New report says Kyrsten Sinema insists on taking vacation even as Democrats rush to finish infrastructure

Last month, when Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced his intent to potentially extend Senate lawmakers' session into the early days of August in hopes of getting the two large bills through the Senate. But now, according to Politico:

...Sinema told the majority leader that she was not sticking around to vote, multiple Senate sources tell Playbook.
She had prior vacation plans, she said, and wasn't about to let the infrastructure or reconciliation bills get in the way.

Sinema has been an enthusiastic backer of the bipartisan efforts to create a smaller infrastructure package both Democrats and Republicans can vote for. She is less enthusiastic about the reconciliation infrastructure package, which Democrats plan to pass without needing any Republican votes. In a statement released on Wednesday, July 28, Sinema expressed interest in scaling down the cost of the reconciliation bill. However, she did not indicate how much she would like the cost to be reduced.

Sinema said she supports efforts to move forward with voting in favor of the budget resolution. But her resistance to the current proposal suggests there's a lot of work to be done among Democrats before there's actually legislation that can go to President Biden's desk. But it'll have to wait until after her vacation.

Nevertheless, Politico notes that — if everything goes right — Schumer may be able to get the bipartisan bill passed the Senate before lawmakers want to go home.

"Rank-and-file hopes run high on the Hill that if the BIF-related votes pass without a hitch, Schumer could hold a vote-a-rama on the budget Thursday night, allowing senators to leave Washington by Aug. 6 with their summer plans intact," it said.
"But maybe that's too rosy..."