A furious Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) unloaded on House and Senate Republicans for their refusal to even consider a border deal bill that she helped negotiate over nearly four months, calling out their hypocrisy and banning them from visiting her border state.
“I have a very clear message for anyone using the southern border for staged political events. Don’t come to Arizona,” Sinema said in a speech from the Senate floor Wednesday shortly before the border deal failed in a vote. “Take your political theater to Texas. Do not bring it to my state because in Arizona, we’re serious. We don’t have time for your political games. We are not interested in you posing for the cameras in Arizona. We are busy.”
Sinema had worked since early October with Sens. James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) to come up with a raft of border security measures and funding that would be included in the supplemental funding bill that the White House proposed last year. The large majority of the $118 billion supplemental would help Ukraine and Israel fight Russia and Hamas, respectively.