MEMO: Action for Arizona – Kyrsten Sinema’s Year Getting Things Done for Arizona

Dec 26, 2019

WASHINGTON – During Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s first year in the U.S. Senate she demonstrated a clear ability to work across the aisle, avoid partisan politics, and deliver results for everyday Arizona families.
 
“I will work with anyone to get things done for Arizona families,” said Sinema.
 
How Kyrsten works:

  • Ranked the most effective Senate freshman
  • Ranked among the most bipartisan members of Congress by the Lugar Center and Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy
  • Honored with her sixth-consecutive Chamber of Commerce Spirit of Enterprise award, highlighting her support for pro-growth policies that encourage job creation across Arizona
  • Received the Partnership for Chronic Diseases Award from The Brain Injury Alliance, Epilepsy Foundation, Arizona Myeloma Network, and Lupus Foundation for her work keeping seniors healthy

How she’s delivering for Arizona’s veterans:

  • Passed her bipartisan LEGION Act into law, expanding American Legion membership to veterans across the country
  • Passed her bipartisan Protecting Affordable Mortgages for Veterans Act into law, safeguarding veterans from predatory loan practices and helping them more easily access their earned homeowner benefits
  • Continued her work to curb suicide among veterans, working with the Somers family to introduce and pass into law the Network of Support for active duty military and advancing her bipartisan proposal for veterans
  • Launched a VA Services Survey to improve veterans care and services with feedback collected directly from Arizona veterans

How she’s keeping Arizona safe and secure:

  • Championed the importance of military resources at Fort Huachuca and urged Congress to protect military funds
  • Secured over $90 million in the NDAA for the renovation of MCAS Yuma’s Hangar 95 so the Air Station’s equipment remains safe
  • Secured over $90 million in the NDAA for the critical replacement of junior servicemembers’ barracks at MCAS Yuma to ensure servicemembers have the resources they need to do their jobs and return home safely
  • Helped secure $5.364 billion in the NDAA for 60 F-35 aircraft, an increase of over $1.090 billion above the President’s request
  • Helped secure $132 million in the NDAA for the A-10 based at Davis Monthan Air Force Base
  • Helped shape the bipartisan border bill that passed Congress in July, securing $55 million to hire 30 additional Immigration Judge Teams and secure courtroom space and equipment to improve judicial adjudication at the border; $30 million for grants to nonprofits that provide critical food, shelter, social services, and other assistance to migrants who are released from CBP custody
  • Passed through a key committee bipartisan legislation providing financial certainty for Arizona universities, hospitals, stadiums, casinos, and other large businesses by ensuring that they have access to terrorism insurance. 

How she’s creating opportunity for everyday families:

  • Led introduction of first bipartisan, bicameral paid parental leave legislation
  • Successfully convinced Verizon Wireless to build a new cell tower in Sunscape, an RV Resort in Pinal County where residents lacked reliable cell service until Kyrsten drew attention to their concerns in a Senate hearing
  • Passed through a key committee her bipartisan Space Frontier Act, legislation to boost Arizona’s aerospace industry and America’s leadership in space exploration
  • Helped pass the bipartisan Drought Contingency Plan, to better secure Arizona’s water future
  • Helped pass a bipartisan Public Lands bill into law, including proposals she led transferring land from the Bureau of Land Management to the La Paz County, swapping 83 acres of Forest Service land to Yavapai County in exchange for 369 acres of county-owned inholding in Coconino National Forest, and allowing Bullhead City to acquire up to 345 acres of federal land on or near the Colorado River

How she’s making health care more affordable and protecting access for Arizonans:

  • Championed protections for Arizonans with pre-existing conditions, spoke on the Senate floor about the need to ban junk insurance plans and voted against junk insurance plans
  • Led the successful effort to repeal the Health Insurance Tax
  • Led the successful effort to repeal the Medical Device Tax
  • Helped repeal the Cadillac Tax, a 40% tax on some employer-provided health insurance plans
  • Protected seniors’ access to critical medicines, leading a bipartisan letter with Sen. Rubio, successfully defeating proposed changes to the Medicare Part D protected classes policies