Manchin and Sinema are the only adults in the room
Progressive Democrats are like kids in a candy store. They want everything in it and throw a tantrum if not getting it. Thankfully there are Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema calling for some sanity. Manchin has labeled the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion spending spree as fiscal insanity. He is right. Sinema will not go along with that spending number either.
But how much longer can they hold out under the pressure, intimidation and threats being made against them by progressive Democrats? Democrats in Arizona are threatening to “primary” Sinema in 2024, she was just harassed by leftist activists while in a public bathroom.
The Build Back Better bill contains 2,400 pages of taxes, spending, expanding government social welfare programs and their inherent dependency. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said do not focus on the cost, but on what is in it. Democrats do not have a mandate to make transformational social change in America. There are 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans in the Senate, and Democrats hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives.
Juan Santiago
Southwest side
Which Boondoggle?
I was happy to see a teacher raise the question as to who is paying for the trillions of dollars being spent by the government. The answer is, the regular taxpayer. Taking a look at the math, the GOP passed a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and corporations in 2018 that is unpaid for every year. Build Back Better reverses that $2 trillion debt that added up every year. It has a price tag of $3.5 trillion over 10 years — a pathway to the future for our young people. I don’t see why the rich and corporations get the free lunch and the rest of us pay. On top of all of this, the GOP is refusing to pay their tax cut bill by not raising the debt ceiling. If the country defaults on its obligations, I will blame Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for not getting rid of the filibuster and not personally getting 10 GOP senators to raise the debt ceiling.
Barbara Moore
East side
You’ll be paying the taxes on the $3.9 trillion
Corporations and businesses have only one source for revenue: their customers. As a result when their taxes go up they raise their prices so they can pay the government. Or, they reduce costs, typically by laying off employees, as labor is generally their biggest cost. So you progressives who think all these social programs included in the Democrat $3.9 trillion spending plan will be paid for by raising taxes on corporations and businesses are wrong. You will be paying the taxes, and also likely putting your own job at risk.
Rick Cunnington
Oro Valley
Money into the economy
The opposition to the fixing the infrastructure, help for pre-K, etc. just does not make sense. It is not money being sent to another country, it will be funds spent here to pay our own citizens and residents’ wages and salaries that would only be put back into the economy.
Now that we aren’t putting money into Afghanistan anymore that should mean more spending for ourselves.
Netley DSouza
East side
Bipartisanship
You have made your point, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. You want to accomplish things in a bipartisan manner. Laudable.
But bipartisanship requires that the two sides work together. We now have two single-minded parties, one trying to support their own president, the other doing all it can to ensure he gets nothing accomplished during this, his first term. Alas, it’ll likely be his only term if you and Sen. Joe Manchin torpedo his attempts to strengthen America’s infrastructure.
So it is time for you to get off the fence, join the team and negotiate within your own party, notwithstanding the opposition you may have to some of Joe Biden’s agenda items (and/or their cost). Otherwise you are not fostering bipartisanship; rather, you are playing into the hands of Sen. Mitch McConnell and the Republicans.
Please consider the long-term effects for the Democratic party, for the presidency, and not least for you in particular, that your continued intransigence foreshadows.
Gerard Ervin
Northeast side
Masters of deceit
We all presume that most politicians lie. However recent lying has become epidemic.
President Joe Biden said repeatedly that no one advised him to keep troops in Afghanistan. Two Generals and the Secretary of Defense all testified otherwise.
His spokespeople have stated over and over that our borders are closed. How many sick undocumented people have been dispatched into our country? How many terrorists and felons?
On the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Biden assured us that “If there’s American citizens left (on Aug. 31), we’re going to get them all out.” That wasn’t true. He told us that our allies had no problem with our hasty departure from Afghanistan. That wasn’t true, either.
He told us that he “wouldn’t demand that [COVID vaccines] be mandatory.” That was before he thought they should be mandatory.
He makes Pinocchio look like Mother Teresa.
He and his press people are truly Masters of Deceit.
Thomas McGorray
Northwest side
Comprehensive sexual health education in Arizona
We need schools to offer comprehensive, age-appropriate sexual health education in Arizona. As a master’s student at the University of Arizona Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health studying health promotion sciences, it is extremely frustrating to see the lack of options offered to our youth.
Currently, Arizona has an “opt-in” policy which means many students do not receive any formal sex education at all. The benefits of a comprehensive sex education curriculum include delaying the initiation of sex and increased contraceptive and condom use — leading to fewer teen pregnancies — and better protection against sexually transmitted infections. Students also show improved academic performance, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Let’s protect our youth by giving them the tools to decrease sexual risk behaviors by promoting the implementation of age-appropriate comprehensive sexual health education in Arizona schools.
Josie Eck
Northwest side
