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But Sinema may be making the Democrats deliberations easier.

As she races to stockpile campaign money and post an impressive, statement-making first-quarter fundraising number, Sinema has used a series of Republican-dominated receptions and retreats this year to belittle her Democratic colleagues, shower her GOP allies with praise and, in one case, quite literally give the middle finger to President Joe Bidens White House.

And thats before an audience.

Speaking in private, whether one-on-one or with small groups of Republican senators, shes even more cutting, particularly about Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, whom she derides in harshly critical terms, according to senior Republican officials directly familiar with her comments.

Sinemas sniping spree has delighted the Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and donors whove taken in the show, giving some of them hope that she can be convinced to caucus with the GOP, either in this Congress or in the case shes reelected as an independent.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who Sinema has assiduously courted, remains skeptical, however. Believing she remains a Democrat at heart, McConnell has focused on trying to recruit a non-controversial Arizona Republican into the race, somebody who could attract the moderate GOP voters and independents Sinema would need to win the purple state as an independent.

Its entirely possible, however, that such a Republican doesnt run or cant clear a primary in Arizonas MAGA-fied state party. Former Gov. Doug Ducey has made clear hes not interested, first-term Rep. Juan Ciscomani is likely to accrue more House seniority, and the most attainable option, Karrin Taylor Robson, just lost the gubernatorial primary to Kari Lake. With near-total name identification among Arizona Republicans and the affection of one Donald J. Trump, Lake would enter the Senate race as the odds-on favorite to be the GOP nominee.

Which all raises the question for McConnell: Should his efforts to woo a mainstream Republican fail, would he be better off attempting to cut a deal with Sinema or hope a candidate like Lake can prevail in a three-way race against a current and former Democrat? One potential arrangement: Sinema could remain an independent but caucus with the Republicans in exchange for a ceasefire in spending from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and McConnells Super PAC.

Otherwise, McConnell could find himself ushering the election-denying Lake into the Senate, a step he may be less inclined to take as he considers his legacy and, more proximately, the group of mostly newcomers whove already tried to overthrow him once from his post. Remarkable as it may sound, on the vote that counts the most for the longest-serving Senate leader, the one to extend his record further, the independent may be more likely to support McConnell than the Republican.

At least one prominent Senate Republican is hoping McConnell attempts a negotiated peace with Sinema.

If he hasnt he should, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who has worked closely with Sinema, told me. Romney jokingly said that McConnell should even offer her the gavel of the influential Senate Finance Committee to sweeten the deal.

Just as notable, Romney said he hopes Sinema is reelected regardless and was open to stumping for her in Arizona, which has a significant population of Mormon voters.

Im not saying no, I could very easily endorse Sen. Sinema, he said, calling her one of the senators that is able to pull people together and actually get legislation passed.

At the risk of spoiling the fun for political junkies and students of third-party campaign history, this all could be moot.

Some of Sinemas friends believe shell retire rather than risk losing. To borrow the old line about the Clintons, after her taste of high finance on the fundraising circuit, shes become like the Episcopal priest in the humble rectory who was surrounded by money in his pews and wanted a cut. (Her appetites for luxury hotels, car services and charter flights, as laid out in her campaign finance reports, are ample.)

Sinemas office didnt respond to emailed messages.

Whats clear after the last few months, though, is that it could prove even more awkward than it already is for her to remain even nominally part of the Democratic Party.

Those lunches were ridiculous, she told a small group of Republican lobbyists at a reception in Washington this year in explaining why she had stopped attending her caucus weekly luncheons in the Capitol, according to an attendee.

First off, she explained, she was no longer a Democrat. Im not caucusing with the Democrats, Im formally aligned with the Democrats for committee purposes, Sinema said. But apart from that I am not a part of the caucus.

Then she let loose.

Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are, Sinema recounted to gales of laughter. I dont really need to be there for that. Thats an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back.

Now she was rolling.

The Northerners and the Westerners put cool whip on their Jell-O, she shared, and the Southerners put cottage cheese.

Cue the groans.

Turning more serious, but continuing to dismiss her colleagues, Sinema boasted that she had better uses of her time than those dumb lunches, which the windiest lawmakers can drag out but are also used to discuss substance and strategy.

I spend my days doing productive work, which is why Ive been able to lead every bipartisan vote thats happened the last two years, she said.

It was the sort of comment that reminded me of what one of her Democratic colleagues, a confirmed moderate, told me in private earlier this year about Sinema: Shes the biggest egomaniac in the Senate.

In fairness to Sinema, as Dizzy Dean purportedly said, it aint bragging if you really done it. And she was at the forefront of a series of bipartisan achievements in the last Congress, including on infrastructure and gun control. Along with needing her 51st vote this year, thats why the White House was just as restrained about Sinema leaving the party as Senate Democrats.

Yet in private, she hardly returns the favor.

In the fall of 2021 as my colleague Alex Burns and I reported in our book, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for Americas Future she used a Republican-heavy fundraising reception to criticize the president for what she suggested was hypocrisy. Noting that Biden had at times opposed lifting the debt ceiling while in the Senate, Sinema said that makes it harder for folks to be somewhat righteous on the matter.

This year, at the same fundraiser where she complained about Jell-O, she was even more pointed.

After thrilling the Republican lobbyists by saying that the countrys declining faith in courts is the Senates fault for eliminating the judicial filibuster (read: Harry Reid, not Mitch McConnell, started this), Sinema recounted how she was able to get a federal judge from Arizona easily confirmed in the divided Senate.

A White House aide telephoned Sinema last summer, she said, and told her shed have to make sure all 50 Senate Democrats at the time were present for the vote to confirm Roopali Desai to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Sinema said she told the aide there was no need to fret because the vote would be bipartisan.

Then she revealed who the aide was, saying that was Klain, as she quickly flashed her middle finger in the air to demonstrate what she thinks of the powerful and now-departed White House chief of staff.

After the laughter died down, Sinema boasted that Judge Desai picked up 67 votes in a swift confirmation and then got in one final dig at the White House. I did not call Ron back, she said.

At another Republican-filled fundraiser in Washington this year, Sinema chided Schumer.

Taking questions around the room, as she prefers to do rather than give remarks, the Arizonan encountered a lobbyist who said he was hoping to work with the Senate Democratic leader on finding a compromise over energy permitting. Sinema looked at the lobbyist and shot back: Oh, good luck, according to an attendee.

Its not just liberals who shell take aim at, though. At fundraisers, Sinema has mocked the name Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) bestowed on the climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, likening it to the moniker of the initially unpopular health law now known as Obamacare: the Affordable Care Act.

And when a Republican donor told the Arizona senator that it was not Manchin but Sinema who carried the water for us in this last Congress, she responded: Youre hired.

When the donor said, Without you our taxes wouldve gone through the roof, she concurred: They would have.

On Manchin, Sinema complained that people often assume that were the same person but then twice noted to the corporate crowd that she has better tax policy ideas than the West Virginian, who remains a traditional Democrat when it comes to taxing the wealthy.

Its hard to overstate Sinemas closeness with private equity, in particular. She spent part of her 2020 summer recess interning at a Sonoma winery owned by an executive in the industry; she single-handedly ensured taxing carried interest on private equity earnings was kept out of the IRA legislation, as Schumer memorably blurted out. And one senior administration official told me theyve concluded the way to win Sinemas vote on a crucial agency nominee is to have private equity executives weigh in with her.

After raising large sums from the finance industry in New York and a range of corporate lobbyists in Washington this year, Sinemas Republican donor tour took her to the resort community of Sea Island, Georgia, earlier this month for the American Enterprise Institutes annual forum there.

Seated with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sinema used her time on stage at the conservative think tanks conference to hail her relationships with Collins and two other Republicans, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and, especially, former Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.

She sidestepped questions about her political future to the dismay of some would-be No Labels donors in the audience looking for a 2024 horse and offered an above-it-all presentation in which she disparaged Washingtons ways and said she didnt like characterizing ones rivals.

Multiple attendees told me that her comments were met with a warm response in the room from the major donors, a demographic that skews old, rich, white and male, doesnt much like Trump and sure wishes more Democrats talked like Sinema.

Among those in the room who actually work in politics, and werent just hearing from Sinema for the first time, the reception was far more restrained. Which is to say if they had let their eyes roll collectively it may have caused tidal activity in the Atlantic.

This, along with the basic mathematical challenge of winning as an independent in polarized times, may be Sinemas ultimate challenge: the risk that the voters will eventually catch up to her schtick.

As in: The senator lamenting Washington name-calling and cynicism before an audience of AEI contributors told another, smaller crowd earlier in the year that House liberals were crazy people, that most of my colleagues just arent familiar with tax policy and wondered why other senators didnt leverage the 50-50 Senate to be a pain in the ass like her.

She may be a pain in the ass, but her obstinance is going to ensure she has plenty of money in the bank.

Sinema is going back to Sonoma in May for a $5,000 per-person Weekend of Wine and Food, according to an invitation. August will bring a Maui event for her leadership PAC. And then in the fall, shell head up to mountains around Sedona, Arizona.

Whats less clear is if by then shell still be using her current fundraising consultants, Fulkerson, Kennedy and Company. The Democratic firm also represents another, more prominent senator: Charles Ellis Schumer.

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Sinema Trashes Dems: 'Old Dudes Eating Jell-O' - POLITICO

Union activists scored a major victory Tuesday when Michigan Democrats voted again to repeal "right-to-work" in Michigan and reinstate the state's prevailing wage law, sending the legislation to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for her signature.

Right-to-work allows those in unionized jobs to opt out of paying union dues and fees. Republicans in the state put the law on the books in 2012 amid massive protests by labor advocates who argue it weakens unions and erodes their bargaining power.

Republicans repealed Michigan's prevailing wage law in 2018. Democrats want to reinstate it to require union-level wages and benefits for workers on state-funded construction projects.

The state House previously voted on its own set of bills earlier this month while the Senate Democrats took up their bills last week. Votes Tuesday in both chambers to tweak the final versions of the bills brought them across the finish line. All bills passed on party-line votes.

The following bills are poised to head to Whitmer's desk:

Whitmer is expected to sign the legislation.

More:Michigan Senate Democrats pass bills repealing right-to-work law

More:Michigan House passes bills to repeal right-to-work

Democrats attached appropriations to the bills for the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to respond to public questions about the legislation and implement the changes. The spending included in the legislation means voters won't have an opportunity to subject any of the bills signed into law to a referendum.

The move mirrors what Republicans did in 2012 when they passed right-to-work.

At the outset of her first term, Whitmer promised to veto legislation that circumvents the referendum process. But it does not appear she will issue a line-item veto to remove the spending from the bills before signing them.

"The governor intends to sign legislation restoring workers' rights as passed by the Legislature," said a spokesperson for Whitmer.

Free Press staff writer Arpan Lobo contributed to this article.

Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA.Contact her at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

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Michigan Democrats vote once more to repeal right-to-work - Detroit Free Press

Such cuts would cause irreparable damage to our communities by gutting the programs every single American relies on, DeLauro said in a statement. Those proposals are unrealistic, unsustainable, and unconscionable.

House Republicans are just beginning to look at how they're going to write fiscal 2024 spending bills to the level envisioned by McCarthy and conservatives in the conference, including members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus.

House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger, R-Texas, has instructed her subcommittee chairs to look closely at their bills for areas to cut, according to State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mario Diaz-Balart. However, the dozen subcommittee "cardinals" have not yet been given theirtargets to cut to since the overall discretionary topline figure has not yet been established, he said.

The instruction from Kay Granger has been, in essence, to scrub every penny, every department, every agency, dollar, every penny spent, to try to find savings, to try to figure out where we can cut spending in a responsible way, Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., said Monday.

Diaz-Balart said the increase in nondefense discretionary spending in recent years has been insane, and said he believes appropriators can get nondefense discretionary spending down to fiscal 2022 levels. On the other hand, he pointed out, many Republicans want to increase defense funding.

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White House, Democrats unload on GOP spending cuts scenarios - Roll Call

AUGUSTA Democrats in Maines Legislature are moving to pass a baseline state budget by the end of next week to prevent a possible government shutdown this summer a move that would still leave room for future debates over whether to cut taxes or increase spending amid historically high revenues and surpluses.

The Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee announced Thursday that they plan to divide Gov. Janet Mills $10.3 billion two-year budget proposal into two separate bills. The first bill would include the baseline budget for each existing program and a subset of new spending proposals, which would essentially ensure existing services and programs carry forward beyond July 1. Details of what would be included in the second budget bill are not yet known.

The announcement from the Democratic co-chairs of the committee shows the party is intent on passing a basic operating budget before the end of next week, either with or without Republican support, to avoid the brinksmanship of a possible government shutdown like the one that occurred in 2017 under Republican Gov. Paul LePage.

Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said in a written statement that the baseline budget would continue funding commitments for education, property tax relief and health care. The second budget bill would include any new spending initiatives from legislators and the governor.

Rotundo said the approach would provide stability to businesses and residents.

Passing a targeted continuing services budget now will provide our families, schools, municipalities and business community with the stability they deserve, building on the bipartisan work Democrats and Republicans continue to do on this Committee, Rotundo said. It will also give the Legislature the space and time to continue working in a collaborative and productive manner on any new initiatives and programs in the coming months.

Republicans leaders in the House and Senate did not respond to interview request about whether they support the approach announced the Democratic co-chairs.

Spokespeople for Mills did not immediately respond to questions about the announcement.

Passing a budget before next week could be done with a simply majority, which the Democrats have in both the House and Senate. Such a budget would take effect 90 days after passage, so it would need to be done by April 1 to ensure the funding of government operations when the next fiscal year begins on July 1.

Budget approval after April 1 would require the support of two-thirds of the Legislature to avoid a shutdown. Reaching that threshold would allow the budget to take effect immediately after the Legislature adjourns.

Republicans, who have made tax cuts a top priority this session, have become increasingly concerned that Democrats would use their majority to push through a partisan budget.

Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart, R-Presque Isle, said Tuesday that all signs were pointing towards Democrats passing a majority budget, saying that such a move would be a tremendous blow to the institution that is the Legislature and the process we are supposed to be utilizing.

The move to divide the budget has recent precedent. Democrats passed a majority budget during the pandemic, while lawmakers continued working on a change package to allocate additional revenues that ultimately won bipartisan support.

The 131st Legislature session began with a confrontation over a winter heating and energy relief plan, which included a round of $450 checks to certain taxpayers. That bill was negotiated by income leaders from both parties with the governor before lawmakers were seated, but was delayed when Senate Republicans withheld support, citing a lack of a public hearing.

After that hearing was held, a few Republicans joined Democrats to approve the bill, without any changed.

While the bill passed, it was seen as a harbinger of the biennial budget negotiations that are now taking place.

Mills, meanwhile, has said she would like to provide stability to those in the state and avoid drama, especially any threat of a government shutdown. She is facing calls from her own party to increase spending on services and programs, but she has expressed an interest in working with Republicans on a bipartisan budget. She has also ruled out any tax increases.

Mills convened a meeting of legislative leaders and budget negotiators from both parties in each chamber on Tuesday to discuss the status of budget talks.

Lawmakers were tightlipped about what was discussed in that meeting, with some joking that they were sworn to secrecy.

Rep. Sawin Millett, R-Waterford, suggested there was at least some agreement about future steps.

I think we made a lot of progress in terms of agreeing to work together, rather than separating, said Millett, a longtime lawmaker and the lead Republican on the budget-writing committee. The parties kind of outlined the first step and then well talk about the next step and keep going.

Mills was also optimistic, according to a spokesperson.

The Governor felt the meeting was positive and productive, and she appreciated the engagement from leaders of both parties and both houses, Goodman said. She will continue to work with them in the coming days to discuss potential avenues to move the budget forward.

This story will be updated.

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Wisconsin reverted to a draconian anti-abortion law from 1849 after Roe was dismantled.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) and Democratic lawmakers in the state legislature introduced a bill earlier this week that would restore abortion rights in Wisconsin to where they stood before the overturn of Roe v. Wade last summer.

After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe, several states reverted back to abortion statutes that were in place prior to that ruling. For Wisconsin, that meant a law passed in 1849 just one year after the state was established that almost completely bans abortion.

The law only allows abortions in the state prior to the ambiguous stage of quickening (the time when a fetus can be felt moving), and makes no exception for rape or incest. A person can only get an abortion after that point if a pregnancy threatens their life.

The bill that Democrats and Evers introduced on Tuesday would essentially repeal the 1849 statute and return abortion rights precedents to where they were in Wisconsin up until last year.

Im proud to join Legislative Democrats in continuing our fight to restore access to reproductive freedom in Wisconsin with a clean repeal our states 1849-era criminal abortion ban, Evers said about the bill.

Since the end of Roe v. Wade last summer, an abortion statute from 1849 has banned nearly all abortions in Wisconsin.

Rep. Lisa Subeck (D), the sponsor of the state Assembly version of the bill, celebrated the legislation for restoring peoples reproductive rights and ability to choose for themselves, with their doctors, the path that is right for them.

Every pregnancy and every situation is different, Subeck said. We believe in the rights of individuals to make our own reproductive health care decisions, in consultation with our families, our physicians, those we choose to involve, but without interference from politicians.

The bill, though lauded by Democrats, has almost zero chance of passing the Republican-controlled legislature, which is dominated by anti-abortion lawmakers. Although Evers and other statewide officials have been elected in two straight election campaigns, Republicans control nearly two-thirds of the seats in both the state Senate and state Assembly due to gerrymandered districts they drew in 2011 and 2021.

Republicans, perhaps recognizing that most of the states voters oppose keeping the 1849 law intact, have tried but so far failed to come up with a consensus on how to change it. A bill they introduced last week would add exceptions for rape and incest, and clarify definitions for when a persons life is at risk, but would keep other provisions of the law untouched.

In a Marquette University Law School poll from last fall, Wisconinites were asked whether they favored the overturn of Roe v. Wade. A majority (55 percent) said they opposed the action by the Supreme Court, while just over a third of residents in the state (37 percent) said they were in favor of it.

Evers recognized that Republicans would oppose the bill, in spite of the fact that most Wisconsinites would likely back the Democrats proposal.

We have a bill. Lets have a debate, the governor said. Republicans have their bill; the Democrats have their bill. The people of Wisconsin should be able to hear a debate about this issue. Not silence.

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