Senator Sinema has a chance to reform her legacy and be a hero.
There is one issue where she has consistently fought for, voted for and believed in: a woman’s right to choose.
She gets a 100% score from NARAL
Say what you will, but she has been consistent on judges and on abortion rights.
And she could erase every Dems issues with her and be a hero with one action:
She could join with Murkowski (I guess Collins too for what it’s worth), do her bi-partisan thing, and lead the fight in the Senate to pass the House legislation codifying abortion rights.
1) Support a filibuster carve-out for legislation responding to immediate SCOTUS decisions. This would make sense in many ways — SCOTUS sometimes guts laws in a way that require immediate adjustment from Congress — and its often an academic exercise to keep a status quo but adjusting for court decisions. We don’t need Manchin for this if Murkowski (who I believe cares a lot more about abortion rights than Collins does) would get on board.
2) Pass a Senate version of the House legislation. I’m sure whatever the House cooked up would need adjustment, but just about anything to not create a massive disruption in critical healthcare services would work — it doesn’t have to be ideal.
If Sinema took the lead on this — maybe a Sinema-Murkowski bill protecting the status quo, she would buy a significant amount of good will from Dem colleagues.