Former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) had a heated exchange with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and other Democratic party members who she said switched their stance on support for the filibuster in the upper chamber.
“Change of heart on the filibuster, I see,” Sinema wrote in a post with a screenshot of a post from Ocasio-Cortez shaming the Arizona lawmaker for not supporting ending the filibuster in order to pass Roe v. Wade protections.
Sinema’s comments come as Democrats urged their counterparts to use a filibuster to prevent the House-GOP led government spending bill from advancing. It requires the Senate to obtain 60 votes to approve legislation, but some Democrats have argued the measure, which is often used to delay votes, be abolished in the past.
However, many were calling for its use this week to avoid cuts to healthcare and research featured in the continuing resolution (CR).
Ocasio-Cortez said she felt a deep sense of “outrage and betrayal” over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) decision to vote in favor of the bill.
When pressed for changing her stance on the filibuster by Sinema, the New York representative defended her views, claiming Democrats don’t use the filibuster when it’s warranted.
“Still no. In fact, the same Dems who argue to keep the filibuster ‘for when we need it’ do not, in fact, use it when we need it,” Ocasio-Cortez fired back in response to Sinema.
“It’s only used to block Dem policies. Never to block harmful GOP ones. Could have proved us wrong. Instead they proved the point.”
Sinema still argued some showed a change of heart during votes this week.
“Literally zero Senate Democrats support the filibuster. 38 voted to filibuster the continuing resolution yesterday. 8 who previously voted to eliminate the filibuster (1/19/22) did not filibuster. 1 who previously campaigned against the filibuster did not filibuster,” Sinema said.
It was followed by a sarcastic post targeting Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).
“Popular take from the Left:If u had eliminated the filibuster & voted for everything that the Left wanted, the threat of the filibuster being used by Rs would never happen bc Ds would win every election & have a permanent majority,” Sinema wrote.
“What a breathtakingly undemocratic take.”
Sinema’s posts are another sign of the fracture in the Democratic party’s approach to legislative measures.
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