Despite public pressure from all the way up to President Biden, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema are unwavering in their support of the filibuster, according to statements from their offices.
Sinema’s office pointed to a statement the Arizona Democrat made after the leaked Supreme Court decision: “Protections in the Senate safeguarding against the erosion of women’s access to health care have been used half-a-dozen times in the past ten years, and are more important now than ever.”
Manchin’s office stated that the West Virginia Democrat’s position had not changed in light of the president’s new comments.
On Thursday, Biden made further remarks at a news conference in Madrid, saying he would support a filibuster exception to enact federal abortion legislation and denouncing the Supreme Court’s ‘outrageous’ rejection of Roe v. Wade.
He criticized the decision and its effects in a press conference after the NATO meeting in Madrid, Spain.
America is more prepared than ever to lead the world, he declared.
However, the Supreme Court of the United States’ outrageous actions in overturning not only Roe v. Wade but also basically undermining the right to privacy has been unsettling.
While his supporters and detractors on the left criticized him for not acting sooner, Biden also defended his qualifications to be the “messenger” on abortion rights.
Additionally, he said that he would support a carve-out that would allow Democrats in Congress to approve measures safeguarding abortion rights even in the absence of 60 votes in the Senate.
Making it obvious how awful this decision was and how much it affects privacy generally, as well as a woman’s freedom to choose, which is a crucial, crucial aspect, should be our first and foremost priority, according to Biden.
“Therefore, I’m going to talk to the governors to find out what steps they think I should be taking as well,” the speaker said.
The’most important issue,’ he continued, was his conviction that Roe v. Wade’s safeguards ought to be written into the law.
The president added, “The way to do it is to make sure that Congress votes to do that.”
And if the filibuster comes in the way, we should make an exemption for this, just like we would for voting rights.
He continued by saying that Congress should also legislate the “right to privacy,” which he said the Supreme Court “wiped out” in its Roe ruling. Codifying privacy rights, according to him, would safeguard a “whole variety of situations,” including same-sex unions.
But the strategy might not work. To become law, it would require the support of all Democratic senators, and two of them are rumored to be against it.
Prior to the bill’s failure to become law due to the objections of conservative Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, Biden backed the notion of a carve-out to pass legislation protecting voting rights.
Both of their offices made it clear that they were still opposed to the filibuster rule being changed.
The Senate’s 60-vote threshold for overriding a filibuster delay has all but guaranteed that the president’s agenda would stall in the upper chamber.
To approve a law with a 50-50 split and Vice President Kamala Harris as the deciding vote, Democrats must convince 10 Republicans to support them.
Biden, who is open about his Catholic faith, was questioned during the news conference about how his current role directing the government’s reaction to Roe squares with his prior statements opposing abortion.
Are you the best messenger to carry this forward, Kelly O’Donnell of NBC asked?
“I am, yes. I represent the United States of America as president. Therefore, I am the best messenger,” Biden retorted.
“And I genuinely think that the Court has put upon the United States a major, serious challenge — not just in terms of the freedom to choose, but in terms of who you can marry, the right — a whole variety of concerns relating to privacy,” the speaker continued.
Biden continued to speak on how the Supreme Court has affected the right to privacy, saying, “They just wiped it all out.”
As a result, they only have me as president, and Biden vowed to press both the Congress and the public in addition to doing everything within his legal authority to do so through executive orders.
“The simple line is that if you care, if the polling data is accurate, and you believe that this court ruling was an outrage or a serious error, vote.” Vote, and turn out.
A day after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, the president embarked on a six-day tour to Europe.
Campaigners for women’s rights say that it may jeopardize American efforts to advance reproductive health and rights abroad.
After spending the day on Sunday in the Bavarian Alps with G7 leaders, Biden asserted that no one had brought up the matter.
Not connected to Ukraine or any of the topics we spoke about, he declared.
Progressive legislators and even the House Democratic leadership have repeated Biden’s vehement support for eliminating the filibuster.
In a statement on Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged the Senate to end the filibuster in order to approve legislation allowing for abortion rights. She also pledged to take legislative measures to safeguard individuals’ right to privacy.
Harris, Biden’s own vice president, disagreed with the notion when questioned about it by CNN on Monday night.
When asked about the likelihood, Harris responded to host Dana Bash, “Right now, with the current composition of the Senate, the votes aren’t there.”
Then, when the journalist persisted, she said, “I understand why you’re asking that question.” However, if we don’t have the necessary numbers in the Senate, we can’t even begin to answer whether it will occur or not.
And once more, that is the reason I keep bringing up the significance of an election that will take place in just 130 or so days.
The Louisville Courier-Journal reported on Wednesday night that Biden is considering naming Kentucky’s Republican former solicitor general Chad Meredith to a federal judgeship, which may be a blow to his credibility in the abortion debate.
In a case against Kentucky’s sole abortion facility at the time in 2019, Meredith had defended the state’s then-Governor Matt Bevin. In 2021, he successfully fought to put into effect a ruling requiring doctors performing abortions to first perform ultrasounds on their patient and describe the fetus in detail.
Rep. John Yarmuth, a Democrat, told the publication that he thought it was part of an agreement with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to confirm more of Biden’s candidates.