Protesters gather outside Sen. Sinema’s Phoenix office after missing the Capitol Insurgency Commission vote

Activists gather outside Sen. Sinema’s office in Phoenix

Missing person leaflets showing the face of Senator Kyrsten Sinema have surfaced in downtown Phoenix calling on the Democratic Senator from Arizona for skipping Friday’s January 6th Senate vote on the commission. Marc Martinez from FOX 10 reports.

PHOENIX – – A group of Arizonans call out Senator Kyrsten Sinema for failing to appear on Capitol Hill for an important vote.

Protesters gathered outside Sinema’s Phoenix office on May 30 after she did not vote to set up a September 11, 2001, bipartisan commission to investigate the January 6, 2001 deadly attack on the US Capitol.

“I am very disappointed,” said Sharli Schaitberger, a demonstrator. “She was missing in action.”

Last week, Senator Sinema released a statement calling on her Republican counterparts to pass the law.

The move missed the 60 votes it took to defeat the Republican filibuster.

“I’m very surprised,” said Schaitberger. “I’m very disappointed. I’m very surprised. I really believed she was going to be a Democrat. I knew she would be moderate or even a little right-wing, but I didn’t think she would just let us down.”

The Senate vote was 54 to 35 – less than the 60 votes it took to consider the bill, which would have formed a 10-person commission that would be split evenly between the two parties. Legislators held the procedural vote on Friday morning after delays in an independent bill to promote scientific research and development shifted the schedule.

The six Republican Senators who voted in favor of the bill were Sens. Mitt Romney from Utah, Susan Collins from Maine, Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, Rob Portman from Ohio, Lisa Murkowski from Alaksa, and Ben Sasse from Nebraska. Eleven senators – nine Republicans and two Democrats – missed the vote, an unusually high number of absenteeism for one of the most prominent votes of the year. Some said they had scheduling conflicts.

The Republican opposition to the bipartisan commission has also reinvigorated Democratic pressure to abolish the filibuster, a time-honored Senate tradition that requires a vote of 60 of the 100 senators to break the debate and propose a bill.

Sinema and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have said they want to keep the filibuster in place.

With the Senate 50:50 evenly split, the Democrats need the support of 10 Republicans to move on to the commission bill, sparking a new debate about whether it is time to change the rules and raise the 51-vote threshold lower to pass the law.

“The failed Senate vote had 6 brave Republicans, but that was 4 fewer than the 10 it took to move the legislation forward,” said Manchin. “The decision to put politics and political elections above the health of our democracy is unscrupulous, and betraying the oath we all take is something we have to live with.”

The Arizona senator angered many Democrats in March when she gave a thumbs down vote against raising the federal minimum wage to $ 15 an hour under the COVID-19 Relief Act.

Last month she posted a picture online with a flash of a ring of profanity on it, which also angered her constituents. As a result, a San Francisco company said it would donate any profits from the sale of the ring to a group advocating a hike in the state minimum wage by the end of April.

“We advertised them door-to-door, but I won’t do it again,” said one protester.

Sinema has not yet explained the reason for their absence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continuation of reporting

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX 10 NEWS APP