Arizona’s Senior United States Senator, Kyrsten Sinema, has become a controversial figure in American politics, due in large part to her resistance to the original $3.5 trillion dollar price tag of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better agenda.
Sen. Sinema, along with West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin, has been cast as a spoiler of the big plans of the Biden Administration with her resistance to the Build Back Better proposal, opposition to a change in Senate filibuster rules, and friendly relationships with her Republican colleagues. But Sen. Sinema says her positions lead to negotiations that make better legislation. She cites the lowered cost of the Build Back Better bill, now just under $2 trillion, as evidence of success.
A quick google search shows there are a lot of people trying to figure out Sen. Sinema. Some suggest the Arizona Democrat abandoned the people who helped her get elected to the Senate and shifted her political views once in office. Others say she is crafting her own version of a maverick, a term used to describe former Arizona Senator, and presidential candidate, John McCain, who was known to buck his own party at times.
But Sinema dismisses all the criticism as unproductive.
On this episode of Arizona Edition, Sen. Sinema tells host Lou Gum that she will go her own way despite criticism from the left or right. She says her position on the Build Back Better proposal, or infrastructure, or any issue before the U.S. Senate, is bases on a belief in fiscal responsibility and limited and effective government. She also discusses what is in the Build Back Better bill and the Infratucture Investment and Jobs Act that addresses issues impacting Arizonans.