Politics

‘Let Them Eat Cake’: Kyrsten Sinema Draws Fire For Thumbs-Down On Minimum Wage

(Photo by Joshua Roberts-Pool/Getty Images)

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Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema drew fire on social media Friday for her thumbs-down display when voting against a proposed minimum wage increase.

Sinema, six other Democrats, one Independent, and every Republican voted against an amendment proposed by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders that would have increased the national minimum wage to $15 per hour. The measure was previously cut from the COVID relief bill and was then proposed during a Senate “vote-a-rama,” which allowed senators to force a vote on any proposal.

Several social media users, however, were upset by Sinema’s body language when coming forward to give a thumbs-down on the proposal and took to Twitter to express their frustration. (‘They Can Afford It’: Daily Caller Co-Founder Neil Patel Suggests Large Corporations Should Bear The Brunt Of A Minimum Wage Increase)

Journalist Yashar Ali called Sinema’s optics “horrible” and called her out for making “a show of it.”

PolicyLink director Tracey Ross responded to HuffPost politics reporter Igor Bobic’s reported news about Sinema bringing cake into the building for Senate staff who had worked overnight. “Let them eat cake,” she wrote, referring to the French Revolution-era legend about Marie Antionette’s supposed disdain for the working-class.

Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price, famous for taking a pay cut and raising the wages of all his employees to $70,000 per year, pointed out the Arizona senator was not always against a minimum wage hike.

Many others weighed in as well: