亚利桑那州民主党参议员Kyrsten Sinema周一在共和党人在其家乡肯塔基州举行的一次演讲中，加倍支持她对阻挠议事的争议性支持，并展示了她与参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)的非传统友谊。
西内马在路易斯维尔大学麦康奈尔中心发表讲话时重申了她的立场，即参议院应继续在60票的门槛下通过立法，并澄清说，她希望恢复对“一切”的阻挠，包括所有司法和行政部门的提名。这一举措几乎可以保证50-50的参议院将阻止乔·拜登总统的几乎所有任命。
“我致力于60票的门槛，这是一个令人难以置信的不受欢迎的观点。这位温和的民主党人在“政治话语的未来和两党合作的重要性”的演讲中说:“实际上，我认为我们应该恢复已经取消的60票门槛。”
“这将使我们更难确认法官。这将使我们更难确认每届政府的行政任命。但我相信，通过恢复，我们实际上会在我们治理的所有部分看到更多的中间立场，我相信这是我们的祖先想要的。”
亚利桑那州参议员Kyrsten Sinema作为参议员Mitch McConnell的客人，在肯塔基州路易斯维尔大学校园内的麦康奈尔中心的一次活动中发表了关于两党合作的言论。2022年9月26日。
小萨姆·乌普肖/信使日报/今日美国
在过去的两年里，Sinema一直是试图在不分胜负的参议院通过立法的民主党参议员中的异类，尽管受到越来越多的批评，她仍然坚定地忠于阻挠议事规则。她反对取消阻挠议事的主要论点是，这样做可能会把参议院变成众议院——一个没有参议院长期规则的下院。
“问题是……众议院每两年举行一次选举，每个众议院代表一个较小的选民群体，他们真正代表了政治光谱中当前的激情，”她说，并指出距离即将到来的中期选举只有一个半月多一点。西内马还没有准备好连任。
“众议院和参议院之间的控制权每隔几年就会发生变化，很可能在几周内再次发生变化……参议院被设计成一个慢慢冷却这些激情的地方，对摆在我们面前的立法进行更具战略性和长期性的思考。”
在她发表讲话之前，西内马被麦康奈尔称为“我在参议院工作期间见过的最有效率的第一任期参议员”，麦康奈尔在众议院服务了37年，并准备打破领导寿命的记录。
他选择Sinema参加两党演讲系列，这意味着亚利桑那州现在是长期政治重量级人物名单的一部分，包括最高法院法官Amy Coney Barrett、明尼苏达州参议员Amy Klobuchar、副总统拜登和国务卿希拉里·克林顿。
麦康奈尔说，“她是今天我们在民主党中太少的人，一个真正的、温和的、交易撮合者，”她特别崇敬地提到她对参议院60票门槛规则的贡献。
“Kyrsten Sinema需要很大的勇气站出来说，‘我不会为了实现短期目标而破坏这个机构，’”他说，并指出她背离了民主党降低门槛的愿望。
麦康奈尔还表示，前总统唐纳德·特朗普“几乎每周都会对我发表长篇大论”，谈论同样的想法。
他还称赞Sinema参与推动两党立法，这是她在参议院中为数不多的50-50摇摆票之一。
麦康奈尔说:“凯尔斯滕如果不是主要领导人，也是正确的，他让我们在一个高度党派化的时代取得了成果，在学校安全、心理健康、邮政改革、船舶法案等基础设施上，在我们能够共同努力的每一件事情上。”
Sinema也在她的演讲中吹捧她与共和党高层的友谊。
“乍一看，麦康奈尔参议员和我几乎没有什么共同之处，有些人甚至可以说没有共同之处，”她说。“首先，他喝波旁酒，我喝葡萄酒。他是东南人，我是大西南人。他穿西装打领带，我穿连衣裙和这双凶狠的球鞋。或许最明显的是，我们来自对立的政党。”
“尽管我们有明显的分歧，但麦康奈尔参议员和我建立了友谊，这种友谊植根于我们的共同点，包括我们对立法的务实态度，我们对参议院作为一个机构的尊重，我们对自己家乡的热爱，以及代表我们的选民的坚定决心。”
McConnell calls Democrat Kyrsten Sinema 'the most effective first-term senator'
Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Monday doubled down on her controversial support for the filibuster and displayed her unconventional friendship with Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell during a speech hosted by the Republican in his home state of Kentucky.
Speaking at the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, Sinema reiterated her stance that the Senate should continue passing legislation under a 60-vote threshold, clarifying that she hopes to resurrect the filibuster for "everything," including all judicial and executive branch nominees. That move would almost guarantee that the 50-50 Senate would block nearly all of President Joe Biden's appointments.
"I committed to the 60-vote threshold, it's been an incredibly unpopular view. I actually think we should restore the 60 vote threshold for the areas in which it has been eliminated already," the moderate Democrat said during her speech on "The Future of Political Discourse and the Importance of Bipartisanship."
"It would make it harder for us to confirm judges. It would make it harder for us to confirm executive appointments in each administration. But I believe by restoring, we'd actually see more of that middle ground in all parts of our governance which is what I believe our forefathers intended."
Sinema has over the past two years been the outlier among fellow Democratic senators who have attempted to pass legislation in a tied Senate, remaining steadfast in her allegiance to the filibuster rule despite mounting criticism. Her main argument against eliminating the filibuster was that doing so might turn the Senate into the House -- a lower chamber without the longstanding Senate rule.
"The trouble with that is …the House with elections every two years, representing a smaller group of voters by each House, they really represent the passions of the moment in the political spectrum," she said, noting the impending midterm elections just over a month and a half away. Sinema is not yet up for reelection for another term.
"Control changes between the House and the Senate every couple of years, it's likely to change again, in just a few weeks … The Senate was designed to be a place that moves slowly to cool down those passions, to think more strategically and long term about the legislation before us."
Ahead of her remarks, Sinema was called "the most effective first term senator I've seen in my time in the Senate," by McConnell, who has served 37 years in the chamber and is poised to break records for leadership longevity.
His selection of Sinema for the bipartisan speaking series means the Arizonan is now part of a longstanding list of political heavyweights, including Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Biden while he was vice president and Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state.
"She is today what we have too few of in the Democratic Party, a genuine, moderate, and a dealmaker," McConnell said, noting with particular reverence her dedication to the Senate's 60-vote threshold rule.
"It took one hell of a lot of guts for Kyrsten Sinema to stand up and say, 'I'm not going to break the institution in order to achieve a short-term goal,'" he said, noting her departure from the Democrats' desire to lower the threshold.
McConnell also said that former President Donald Trump "would harangue me on virtually a weekly basis," about the same idea.
He also applauded Sinema's involvement in moving forward bipartisan legislation -- a role she has enjoyed as one of the few swing votes in the 50-50 Senate.
"Kyrsten has been right in the middle of, if not the principal leader, in getting us to an outcome in a highly partisan time, on infrastructure on school safety, mental health, postal reform, that ships bill you name it, every single thing that we've been able to work together on," McConnell said.
Sinema, too, touted her friendship with the top Republican during her speech.
"At first glance, Sen. McConnell and I have relatively little -- or some could even say nothing -- in common," she said. "For starters, he drinks bourbon, I drink wine. He's from the Southeast and I'm from the great Southwest. He wears suits and ties, and I wear dresses and these fierce sneakers. Perhaps most obviously, we come from opposing political parties."
"But despite our apparent differences, Sen. McConnell and I have forged a friendship — one that is rooted in our commonalities, including our pragmatic approach to legislating, our respect for the Senate as an institution, our love for our home states and a dogged determination on behalf of our constituents."
