Sinema unchanged on ‘Build Back Better’
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema vowed Tuesday to conduct herself in the same manner as she did during the “Build Back Better” negotiations of 2021 should Democrats try to revive the centerpiece of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.
“What I can’t tell you is if negotiations will start again or what they’ll look like,” Sinema, D-Ariz., said at an Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry luncheon at the Arizona Biltmore resort in Phoenix. “But what I can promise you is that I’ll be the same person in negotiations if they start again that I was in negotiations last year.”
Sinema told the business group that she remains opposed to raising taxes on corporations: “You all know, the entire country knows, that I’m opposed to raising the corporate minimum tax rate.”
She also reiterated her opposition against “any tax policies that would put a brake on any type of economic growth or forestall business and personal growth for America’s industries.”
Democrats are hoping to resuscitate the Build Back Better Act, Biden’s domestic spending bill that the House of Representatives passed in November but which has stalled in the Senate. The new approach would be to pass parts of the broader legislation.
In the evenly divided 100-member Senate, Democrats cannot afford any Democratic defections on the legislation. Vice President Kamala Harris would cast the tiebreaker vote in the case of a 50-50 deadlock.
Last month, centrist Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who came out against the Build Back Better bill, said that he would be open to a package that focuses on, among other things, lowering the costs of prescription medication, which Sinema supports. However, his support comes with the caveat that 50% of the bill would go toward paying down the deficit.
Half of that money should be dedicated to fighting inflation and reducing the deficit, he told the media.