Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., scolded fellow state lawmaker Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., on Twitter on Monday after Sinema said there would be a "likely change" in the majorities of the House and Senate after November's midterm elections.
"I mean you could be out there helping our candidates Sen. Sinema," Gallego wrote on Twitter. "It is my sense is that you would actually prefer the [Democrats] lose control of the Senate and House."
Sinema made the comment during a forum at the McConnell Center in Louisville, Kentucky, named for Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
"As you all know, control changes between the House and the Senate every couple of years," Sinema said while answering a question about why she supports keeping the filibuster in the Senate. "It's likely to change again in just a few weeks."
Sinema's speech at the event dealt with the lack of bipartisanship in the current Congress, and the need for members of both chambers to seek solutions to problems instead of partisan posturing.
When asked why she still supported the filibuster, and its required 60 votes to move legislation forward, Sinema said that the Senate is supposed to "cool down" the "passions of the moment" the House may represent and look at legislation impacts over the long term.
"The reality is that if you were able to remove the 60-vote [filibuster] threshold in the Senate, the Senate would become like the House," she said. "The House, with elections every two years, representing a smaller group of voters, they represent the passions of the moment."
Sinema said the House passes legislation representing those momentary passions, leaving it up to the Senate to slow the process down and deeply consider what the legislation could mean, and to make sure the minority "has a voice" before it moves on.
Sinema, who considers herself a moderate, and not representative of either party's extreme ends, said that people in Arizona, Kentucky, and across the nation are not as divided as some would want people to believe, but are mostly centered in their beliefs and want to see lives improved for all citizens.
Ex-MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, now independent podcaster, demanded on Twitter on Monday that Sinema resign her Senate seat for appearing with McConnell, adding that he briefly "dated" Sinema.
"Yes, I briefly dated Kyrsten Sinema and we were friends for nearly eight years and after her delusional performance yesterday, she should resign from the Senate," Olbermann posted on Twitter on Tuesday. "You cannot campaign with and for Mitch McConnell and get away with it."
© 2023 Newsmax. All rights reserved.