Sinema Puts Up Another Roadblock that We Will Overcome
In solidarity,
Alan Minsky for the PDA National Team
We’re in it for the long haul. Together we will win.
Become a PDA Sustainer Today
The news reached us yesterday that Kyrsten Sinema gave an interview to the Washington Post this week in which she reiterated her opposition to altering the filibuster—without which no voting rights legislation will pass this Congress, and the GOP’s attacks on our democracy will remain in place in states across the country.
The long and short of it is that without Sinema (who claims to support voting rights) agreeing to alter the filibuster rules, no voting rights will be passed before the midterms, making the Democrats’ chances of remaining in control of Congress even more of a long shot—and if the Democrats lose control of Congress there is no chance of passing voting rights legislation in the next Congress, greatly improving the chances of Republican victory in 2024—leaving American democracy on life support.
So, as always, the essential question is What Is To Be Done?
At PDA we see two paths forward.
One: somehow, someway, convince Sinema to support the alteration of the filibuster so the Senate can pass two essential voting rights bills: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. To this end, PDA National will be writing to Senator Sinema this Monday requesting a meeting. When a cause is as just and as essential as this, we have to maintain faith that reason and persuasion will prevail.
Two: We have to defy the odds and lift the Democratic Party to victory in 2022, expanding the Senate majority in the process, even if no voting rights legislation gets passed before the election. In that scenario, it would be a Herculean task, so PDA is committing to make an unprecedented effort both to advance progressive champions in the primaries, and make the case to the American people in every nook and cranny of this land to support the Democratic Party in the midterms.
It’s a heavy lift, but the more people join the team the lighter the load for everyone. Together we can preserve and strengthen American democracy.
Join the team, become a PDA sustainer today.
Preserving democracy will be worth it.
Who is an alternative to Sinema and how do we get that person elected? She is trying to walk on both sides of the fence. I am so sorry that she has decided to desert the ethics upon which she was elected.
The cause is just. The time is now.
It seems to me that the institutional Democratic party is ignoring voting rights, and I conclude they have all resigned themselves to losing the House and Senate in ’22, the Presidency in ’24, and the entire country soon after that.
This is a short list of things they could be doing now to pressure Sinema to move on filibuster reform, and demonstrate committment to winning the issue.
1. Schumer should strip Sinema of committee assignments.
2. Schumer and DSCC should be actively and publically recruiting a primary challenge.
3. Biden, Harris, and Haaland should be in AZ at least once per week speechifying in margainalized communities in support of voting rights legislation. Also, loudly and directly highlighting Sinema’s pimping for PHRMA.
Until the institutional party moves beyond the lip service they’ve been paying to date, it is likely they will be responsible for the damage, death, and destruction to be wrought by the next Trump administration and the Republican trifecta.