Sen. Kyrsten Sinema hopes bipartisan immigration bill gets new life beyond her tenure

PHOENIX – U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said Wednesday she hopes the spirit of her failed bipartisan immigration bill lives on beyond her time in office.

“I’m glad to hear that it’s still part of the debate and hope that future Congresses take up those ideas,” Sinema told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.

Sinema, who was a Democrat when elected to the Senate in 2018 but became an independent in December 2022, didn’t seek reelection this year. Her only term as a U.S. senator will end when the winner of 2024 race between Democrat Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake gets sworn in early next year.

Sinema said she was proud of the work she did with Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma on a bipartisan immigration bill that was endorsed by the National Border Patrol Council.

What was in bipartisan immigration bill?

The legislation would have tightened the asylum system, closed down the U.S.-Mexico border during times of high traffic and beefed up southern border enforcement staffing.

“It was really disappointing that the bill didn’t move forward because it represented the most conservative, actually, border control measures offered in the United States Congress in over three decades,” Sinema said.

Republicans kept the legislation from advancing after former President Donald Trump came out against it. Democrats, including Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, have accused Trump of killing the bipartisan immigration bill to keep the border issue alive as he seeks to regain the presidency.

“I really hope that whoever comes in behind me in the United States Senate is willing to do that hard work of bipartisanship and actually try and solve the problems,” Sinema said.

What will Kyrsten Sinema do with campaign funds?

With less than four months left in office, Sinema wouldn’t reveal her plans for the millions of dollars her campaign still has on hand during Wednesday’s interview.

She had a war chest of more than $5.6 million at the end of June, according to Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports.

“In the coming months, I’ll be talking more with Arizonans about some of the things I want to do to help move our state forward, and so folks can just stay tuned for that,” she said when asked about the campaign funds.

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