Democrat Sen. Sinema stands steadfast in her support for the filibuster

Sinema described the filibuster as "a tool that protects the democracy of our nation rather than allowing our country to ricochet wildly every two to four years back and forth between policies."
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in February 2020

Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema during recent remarks remained steadfast in her support for the filibuster.

She described the filibuster as "a tool that protects the democracy of our nation rather than allowing our country to ricochet wildly every two to four years back and forth between policies. The idea of the filibuster was created ... to create comity and to encourage senators to find bipartisanship and work together," she said. The congresswoman said that "when you have a system that's not working effectively — and I would think that most would agree that the Senate's not a particularly well-oiled machine, right? The way to fix that is to change your behavior, not to eliminate the rules or change the rules, but to change your behavior."

But the Arizona Democrat's continued support for the filibuster was criticized by some, including liberal MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid who called Sinema's comments "absurd," writing in a tweet: "The Jan. 6 commission bill WAS bipartisan. It got 35 votes in the House and 6 votes in the Senate. But that wasn't good enough for you. Just say you don't care about these bills and all you care about is that Republicans get to control the agenda."