President Joe Biden said he would support changing the Senate’s filibuster rules to pass legislation ensuring privacy rights and access to abortion, calling the Supreme Court “destabilizing” for controversial decisions, including overturning Roe v. Wade.
Under intensifying pressure from liberal Democrats to respond more forcefully to the court’s decision last week that ended the nationwide right to an abortion in place since 1973, Biden again said Thursday that Congress should pass legislation guaranteeing access to the procedure.
“If the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, it should be we provide an exception for this,” Biden added in remarks at a news conference to conclude a NATO summit in Madrid. “Right to privacy, not just abortion rights, but yes, abortion rights.”
The Senate’s filibuster rule enables Republicans, who hold half the votes in the 100-seat chamber, to block most legislation they oppose. Under the rule, the Senate must first vote to end debate on controversial legislation, a procedure called “cloture,” that effectively sets a 60-vote threshold for bills to pass the chamber.
Two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have said they oppose changing the filibuster rule. They have also opposed what progressives call “carve-outs” for the rule to allow specific measures, such as bills expanding voting rights or ensuring abortion access.
They are under pressure from liberals to relent in order to overwrite the Supreme Court’s Roe decision, but Sinema has specifically argued that the filibuster has been used to protect rights in the past as one reason to keep it intact. If they are shorn or the 60-vote shackles, Republicans could simply nix a law codifying Roe the next time they are in charge. And McConnell warned last year Republicans could enact a “right to life of the unborn” if Democrats eliminated the 60-vote rule.
All 50 senators aligned with Democrats would have to agree to modify the filibuster, as all 50 Republicans oppose weakening their power to stop legislation.
Asked about how foreign leaders view the U.S. political situation, Biden responded: “The one thing that has been destabilizing is the outrageous behavior of the Supreme Court of the United States in overruling not only Roe v. Wade, but essentially challenging the right to privacy.”
“We’ve been a leader in the world in terms of personal rights and privacy rights and it is a mistake, in my view, for the Supreme Court to do what it did,” he added.
Progressive stalwarts such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want Biden to take dramatic action to ensure access to abortion across the country, even if it means court challenges and legislative battles that the White House would almost surely lose.
That means providing abortions to the public on federal property in states that ban the procedure — a proposal the White House has dismissed as untenable. Progressives also want Biden to overhaul the Supreme Court, either by adding justices or imposing term limits on them or both, as well as curtailing the filibuster.
Biden and White House officials have repeatedly stressed there’s little they can do unless more lawmakers who support abortion rights are elected to Congress.
