Manchin and Sinema are raking in GOP donor cash as they derail Biden's agenda: report

According to a report from the New York Times, Democratic Senators Kyrsten Sinema (AZ) and West Virginia's Joe Manchin's delaying tactics that are keeping the Senate from agreeing on bills proposed by the Joe Biden administration is having the added benefit of allowing the two lawmakers to reap rewards from traditional Republican donors.

The two senators, who have gone from speedbumps to roadblocks as Democrats attempt to push through a historic infrastructure bill that would boost Democratic electoral chances in the 2022 midterms, have left liberals frustrated and conservatives delighted.

According to the report from the Time's Kenneth Vogel and Kate Kelly, legislative intransigence has been profitable for the two moderate Democrats.

"Even as Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin, both Democrats, have drawn fire from the left for their efforts to shrink and reshape Mr. Biden's proposals, they have won growing financial support from conservative-leaning donors and business executives in a striking display of how party affiliation can prove secondary to special interests and ideological motivations when the stakes are high enough," the report states, adding that Sinema now has fans on Wall Street Wall Street "in large part for her opposition to raising personal and corporate income tax rates."

Related: Manchin and Sinema finally feel the heat as Democrats battle over Biden's agenda

For his part, Manchin is cashing in by opposing social welfare upgrades aimed at helping poor Americans.

"The stream of cash to the campaigns of Ms. Sinema and Mr. Manchin from outside normal Democratic channels stands out because many of the donors have little history with them. The financial support is also notable for how closely tied it has been to their power over a single piece of legislation, the fate of which continues to rest largely with the two senators because their party cannot afford to lose either of their votes in the evenly divided Senate," the report states.

According to Wall Street billionaire Kenneth G. Langone, described as a "longtime Republican megadonor" and who has little history giving to Democrats, "My political contributions have always been in support of candidates who are willing to stand tall on principle, even when that means defying their own party or the press."

"Stanley S. Hubbard, a billionaire Republican donor, wrote his first check to Ms. Sinema in September," the Times reports, with Hubbard explaining, "Those are two good people — Manchin and Sinema — and I think we need more of those in the Democratic Party."

According to Vogel and Kelly, "Cash has also poured in for Mr. Manchin and Ms. Sinema from political action committees and donors linked to the finance and pharmaceutical industries, which opposed proposals initially included in the domestic policy bill that the lawmakers helped scale back, including changes to Medicare and the tax-rate increases."

While Manchin's office did not respond to requests for a statement on the report, Sinema spokesperson John LaBombard offered, "Senator Sinema makes decisions based on one consideration: what's best for Arizona."

You can read more here.