Sinema and Manchin Are Out-- Thank God!

There’s a lot of handwringing in the traditional media about the end of the Senate moderate, now that quasi-Democrats Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, along with Republican Mitt Romney, have called it quits. Axios calls it “a series of crushing blows to Senate bipartisanship, hollowing out a centrist core that has suffered under years of intensifying polarization.” Politico laments that “The filibuster is in big trouble” with “two of its staunchest defenders” leaving.  Good riddance.

Between Sinema and Manchin, all hope of the nation having nice things during the first two years of President Biden’s term (when Democrats held a majority in both the House and Senate) was crushed. They blocked or watered down all the good, transformative policies Biden and fellow Democrats proposed for the country.  Now the two biggest impediments to actual progress will be gone—if the Democrats keep the Senate.

Democratic majority unimpeded by the dysfunctional duo means that progress can finally happen. Democrats can restore and expand the Voting Rights Act (which Manchin and Sinema ultimately blocked).  They can restore abortion rights, which the supposedly pro-choice Sinema blocked when Biden urged a filibuster carve-out for it.  Democrats can raise the minimum wage and make massively wealthy private equity and hedge fund executives pay their damn taxes.  Democrats’ vision for environmental justice can be realized.  Comprehensive immigration reform would be that much more possible.  A Democratic majority without Manchin and Sinema could even reform the Supreme Court.