Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York praised President Joe Biden saying he’d support an exception to the filibuster to protect abortion rights.
Mr Biden made the remarks on the final day of a Nato summit in Madrid. A former senator for 36 years, Mr Biden’s shift comes after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 court decision that enshrined the right to seek an abortion, last week.
“I believe we have to codify Roe v Wade in the law, and the way to do that is to make sure the Congress votes to do that. And if the filibuster gets in the way — it's like voting rights, it should ... provide an exception ... to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision,” the president said.
The Senate has often invoked a filibuster, which requires 60 votes to break, to the point it has become almost commonplace for any legislation not related to spending to overcome the threshold. Democrats currently only have 50 votes, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tiebreaker, and conservative Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona both oppose changing the filibuster.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez, one of the leading voices of the progressive wing of the party, praised the remarks.
“Now we’re talking! Time for people to see a real, forceful push for it. Use the bully pulpit. We need more.”
Senate Democrats are hoping to defend their majority and add at least two more Senate seats in the midterm election to pass legislation to codify the protections in Roe v Wade. In May, Mr Manchin opposed the Women’s Health Protection Act with every Republican, killing the legislation.
