Biden calls on Congress to remove filibuster rule to codify Roe

Nearly a week after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, President Biden said he would support getting rid of the filibuster rule in order for Congress to codify the right to an abortion into law.

“I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade into law,” Biden said Thursday at a press conference at the end of the NATO summit in Madrid. “And the way to do that is to make sure Congress votes to do that. And if the filibuster gets in the way — it’s like voting rights — it should be we provide an exception for this. We require an exception for the filibuster for this action.”

While Biden had previously called on Congress to codify Roe, it’s the first time the president has unequivocally voiced his support for getting rid of the filibuster to do it.

He said he would support doing the same for other rights, including the “right to privacy.”

Due to a Senate rule that was traditionally used to block civil rights legislation, most bills cannot pass without 60 votes in the Senate. While Democrats could change that rule to allow passage with a simple majority, they would need all 50 votes from their caucus to do so and currently do not have them. After being pressured for months by voting rights activists, Biden called for a work-around of the filibuster to pass a bill on the issue, which failed due to opposition from Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. However, the Senate did make a special carve-out to raise the debt ceiling with just 50 votes in December of last year.

The White House has been criticized by both elected Democrats and reproductive rights demonstrators for not having a sense of urgency in its response to the Dobbs ruling. The comments from Biden come days after Vice President Kamala Harris drew blowback for a CNN interview in which she declined to endorse the removal of the filibuster for abortion rights purposes.

“President Biden told my colleague Anderson Cooper he would be OK with eliminating the filibuster to pass voting rights and ‘maybe more,’” said CNN’s Dana Bash. “Would you support eliminating the filibuster in order to pass federal legislation for abortion rights?”

“Right now, given the current composition of the Senate, the votes aren’t there,” replied Harris.

“But would you use the bully pulpit to say, ‘Yes, I support it?’” asked Bash.

“Well, here’s the thing. I understand what the — why you are asking the question, but the reality of it is we don’t get to really answer that in terms of whether it happens or not if we don’t have the numbers in the Senate,” Harris said. “And, again, that’s why I keep coming back to the importance of an election that is only 130-odd days away, because it really does matter.”

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that the White House wasn’t going to pursue “bold action” requested by most Senate Democrats and would instead focus on “a range of executive actions in the coming days, as well as promising to protect women who cross state lines for abortions and support for medical abortion.”

According to Reuters, “Biden and officials are concerned that more radical moves would be politically polarizing ahead of November’s midterm elections, undermine public trust in institutions like the Supreme Court or lack strong legal footing, sources inside and outside the White House say.”

At the end of the press conference, Biden was asked whether he is the best messenger to carry abortion rights forward, especially for progressives.

“Yeah I am the president of the United States of America and that makes me the best messenger,” Biden said. “And I really think that it’s a serious, serious problem that the court has thrust upon the United States, not just in terms of the right to choose but in terms of the right to who you can marry, a whole range of issues related to privacy.

“... I’m the only president they’ve got,” he added. “And I feel extremely strongly that I’m going to do everything in my power legally in terms of executive orders as well as push the Congress and the public.”

He added: “If you ... think this decision by the court was an outrage or a significant mistake, vote. Show up and vote. Vote in the off year and vote, vote, vote. That’s how we’ll change it.”