Democrats Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are receiving a stream of cash from Republican donors as the centrist senators continue to derail Joe Biden's liberal agenda in Congress.
With a 50-50 split Senate, even one defector could severely throw off the Democrat agenda – as their best hope is to get all members of the party on board and have Vice President Kamala Harris come in to break the tie.
Billionaire Republican donor Stanley Hubbard wrote his first check to Sinema in September and said he is considering also donating to Manchin.
'Those are two good people — Manchin and Sinema — and I think we need more of those in the Democratic Party,' Hubbard said, according to The New York Times.
Hubbard has given an overwhelming majority of his millions in federal political donations to Republicans.
A Sinema spokesman, John LaBombard, said the cash flow from the right side of the aisle has not factored into her legislative approach.
Centrist Democrats Joe Manchin (left) and Kyrsten Sinema (right) are seeing new cash come in from Republican megadonors as they derail Joe Bided's liberal agenda
Billionaire Republican donor Stanley Hubbard (pictured on May 11, 2009 in New York) wrote his first check to Sinema in September and said he is considering also donating to Manchin
'Senator Sinema makes decisions based on one consideration: what's best for Arizona,' LaBombard said.
Billionaire Wall Street investor and Home Depot co-founder Kenneth Langone, also a Republican mega donor, has donated to Manchin.
Earlier this month, Langone told CNBC that he would throw 'one of the biggest fund-raisers I've ever had' for the West Virginia senator.
'My political contributions have always been in support of candidates who are willing to stand tall on principle, even when that means defying their own party or the press,' he told the Times.
Both Manchin and Sinema, who represent Arizona in the Senate, have also received cash from right-leaning political action committees and donors linked to the finance and pharmaceutical industries, which are entities opposed to proposals included in the bills the two centrist senators are holding up.
Over the summer, Manchin traveled to an $18 million mansion in Dallas, Texas for a fundraiser with Republican and corporate donors. In September, Sinema stopped by the same home to raise money from the same sect of donors.
The duo have drawn criticism from their own party for reshaping the Biden agenda by opposing certain measures in his Build Back Better plan.
Sinema is seeing the backing due to her opposition to raising the personal and corporate income tax rates while Manchin has attracted right-leaning donors in his fight against the size of Biden's social spending and welfare package.
It's not unusual for donors to cross the political aisle. For example, Republican Representative Liz Cheney received a handful of contributions from Democrat donors this year after speaking out against her party embracing Donald Trump.
The influence from Manchin and Sinema has drastically thrown off Biden's ability to sail his agenda through Congress.
Biden's Build Back Better plan was originally proposed at $3.5 trillion but was whittled down to $1.75 trillion, the version of which passed the House on Friday. The plan was supposed to be paid for through tax-rate increases, which is a component of the plan that had to be rewritten due to Sinema's opposition.
Langone, 86, told
