With all the encouragement that the proposed agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, one wild card–a politician who has danced while undermining popular legislation–may still sink the expansive bill.
As Axios reports, Arizona Senator and wannabe fashion icon Kyrsten Sinema may intentionally undermine the agreement that would address economic, manufacturing, budget and environmental issues that are widely favored by Democratic voters by encouraging Republicans to make significant changes before she signs off on it.
Sinema would be the 50th vote in the Senate–all that’s needed to pass an appropriations bill under Senate rules with the tie breaker going to Vice President Kamala Harris–but her solicitations of Republicans could introduce weeks of demands and counteroffers that would cut key provisions of the bill, like a carried interest tax that Sinema has opposed in the past.