Biden requests Congress to ease Filibuster Rules to work on Codifying Roe v. Wade
His comments echo that of the American population stating, “ it is a serious, serious problem the Supreme Court has thrust upon the United States."
President Biden has announced that he would be in full support of suspending the Senate filibuster rule in order to codify the constitutional right to an abortion set in place by the original ruling on Roe v. Wade.
The comments outline a major obstacle for Senate Democrats working to pass legislation that would make the Roe decision federal law. Current Senate rules require the majority party to muster 60 votes to overcome the minority’s attempt to block the advance of a bill - a.k.a the filibuster.
“I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade into law. And the way to do that is to make sure Congress votes to do that.
If the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, we provide an exception for this. We require an exception of the filibuster for this action.”
Biden said.
The Supreme Court’s controversial ruling made on Friday of last week now grants individual states the power to decide their own abortion laws without any federal involvement. Honestly, it shouldn’t be up to any federal or state entity - it should be up to the individual. In this case, it should be up to the woman…
Biden indicated he is scheduled to meet with state governors tomorrow to lay out their options until Democrats in Congress formulate their response. He concluded his statement by saying the reversal of Roe “is a serious, serious problem the Supreme Court has thrust upon the United States. I’m going to do everything in my power I legally can do in terms of protecting abortion, as well as pushing Congress and the public.”
The sad news is that even backing from the president doesn’t necessarily mean Democrats will be able to force any abortion bills through the Senate. This is because not all Senate Democrats will be in favor of tossing out a way to check future Republican majorities (tossing the filibuster). Specifically, Democrats such as Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema have repeatedly stated they are against all edits to the current filibuster rules.