Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will not miss his soon-to-be former colleague, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema when she leaves the Senate at the end of the year.
Sinema, a former Democrat turned Independent, announced on Tuesday that she will not seek reelection after serving one term in the Sunset State.
In a video announcement Tuesday posted on X (formerly Twitter), Sinema declared:
"Because I choose civility, understanding, listening, working together to get stuff done, I will leave the Senate at the end of this year."
When Late Show host Stephen Colbert asked his guest Bernie Sanders how much he would miss Arizona Senator, Sanders curtly replied:
"Not at all."
His direct response, which elicited laughter from the audience, stemmed from lingering resentment due to Sinema being one of two people, the other being Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who is also retiring, for blocking key elements of Democratic President Joe Biden's climate and social spending legislation known as the Build Back Better plan.
Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, explained:
“We had 48 people in the Democratic caucus prepared to transform this country on behalf of the working class of America."
“Two people―Sinema being one, [Joe] Manchin the other―refused to support us."
"We couldn’t pass it. So no, I will not miss Senator Sinema.”
You can watch a clip here.
Will Sen. Bernie Sanders Miss Kyrsten Sinema? “Not At All”youtu.be
Social media users felt the same.
As chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders, who played a major part in Biden's social safety net agenda, denounced Kyrsten and Manchin in in a 2022 NBC interview.
He said:
“It should not be a head-scratcher. You’ve got two members of the Senate, Sen. Manchin and Sen. Sinema, who have sabotaged what the president has been fighting for."
“You’ve got 48 members of the Senate who wanted to go forward with an agenda that helped working families, that was prepared to take on the wealthy and the powerful."
“You got a president who wanted to do that.”
In 2021, Kyrsten sat down with CNN and said she opposed the plan because of inflation concerns and its impact on Americans.
“I won’t support any legislation that increases burdens on Arizona or American businesses and reduces our ability to compete either domestically or globally,” she said, adding:
“That’s one of the reasons I said I wasn’t able to support a $3.5 trillion bill.”
