From the New York Times, I'm Sabrina Tevernice. This is the Daily.

As congressional Democrats dramatically scale back the most ambitious social spending bill since the

1960s, they're placing much of the blame on moderate Democrats who have demanded the cutbacks.

The hold-up on this massive plan is Democrats, Joe Manson and Kirsten Sinema, who say,

we don't need to spend this kind of money. This is way too much money.

Today, the story of one of them, Senator Kirsten Sinema of Arizona.

In the middle of it all, Arizona Senator Kirsten Sinema, whose demands have stalled the Democrats

making progress on the deal, who has been a key blocker of the package and yet has remained

remarkably quiet about it. For months, the most popular parlor game in Washington has been,

what does Senator Kirsten Sinema want? I spoke with my colleague, Reed Epstein, about her rise to the

Senate and her outsized role in shaping the bill. It's Wednesday, October 27th.

Reed, we've been hearing Kirsten Sinema's name a lot together with Senator Joe Manson,

as one of two moderate Democratic senators who are putting the breaks on really the most ambitious

parts of Joe Biden's agenda. I feel like I understand at this point why Manson is in that position.

He's a Democrat from a red state, so he has to walk a line.

But I don't really understand what motivates Sinema. She's a Senator from Arizona, a state that

president Biden won, and we don't actually hear very much from her. She's not out there talking

to the press like Manson is. So who is Senator Kirsten Sinema? Where does her story begin?

Kirsten Sinema is 45 years old. She was born in Tucson and during her childhood moved

back and forth between southern Arizona and the Florida Panhandles in a poor family. She grew up

Mormon. She went to college on a scholarship, was married and divorced by her early 20s.

She moves back to Arizona. She begins working as a social worker helping refugees.

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