She finally got her way. On November 5, 2021, the House passed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Ten days later, Biden signed it into law. Cinema, meanwhile, continued to draw the ire of Democrats for opposing Build Back Better. In a rare interview with CNN, she refused to specify what it would take to change her mind, saying she would “increase the burden on Arizona and American businesses and make them more competitive globally or domestically.” I will not support degrading laws.” The law lay dormant until the following year.
On May 24, 2022, teenagers armed with AR-15 style rifles broke into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and massacred two teachers and 19 children.cinema responded Taken with a tweet that said, “Horrible and heartbreaking,” This was widely denounced as evidence that she had no intention of responding with concrete actions. I happened to read an article that Cinema stopped in the Capitol elevator to inform members. She wants to work with Republicans on gun issues. The news initially seemed unlikely to Murphy.
Murphy texted her, “Are you serious?”
Cinema replied yes. Within two hours, Murphy was sitting in a hidden office in the basement of the Capitol. “Who should I work with on guns?” she asked him.
She and McConnell have been friendly for some time, meeting with him frequently during infrastructure deliberations. In late 2022, she traveled to his state, Kentucky, to give a talk at McConnell Her Center at the University of Louisville. There, she was hailed by minority leaders as “the most capable first-term senator the Senate has ever seen.” Now, in response to her question on the Senate floor, McConnell replied, “John Cornyn and Tom Tillis.” Cinema immediately texted them both. The next day, two Republican senators along with Cinema and Murphy were at her retreat devising a legislative framework. “There wasn’t a day that the four of us didn’t talk more than once,” she Tillis told me.
That June, Biden signed into law the bipartisan Safe Communities Act. Against the wishes of the powerful National Rifle Association, he surprisingly had 14 Senate Republicans vote in favor of the bill. As Murphy tells me, “I knew I couldn’t get through without McConnell’s support. Kirsten had an ongoing conversation with him.” It wasn’t dealing with military rifles or extending background checks to internet and gun show sales. However, it tightened the penalties for buying straws, and from age 18 he added an additional step to his background check for 21-year-old buyers, closing the so-called boyfriend loophole. .
