President Joe Biden and many of his fellow Democrats appear to continue to believe that each new issue is the one that is going to have Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin decide to end the filibuster — and they continue to be incorrect.
The president spoke on the issue in Madrid, Spain, and said that he was in favor of removing the filibuster to codify Roe v. Wade.
“What further specific executive actions are you considering in response to the Roe ruling? And would you declare a public health emergency as several Democrats are calling on you to do?” a reporter said.
“I’ll be happy to go in detail with you on that, on the — I’m having a meeting with a group of governors when I get home on Friday. And I’ll have announcements to make then,” the president said.
“But the first and foremost thing we should do is make it clear how outrageous this decision was and how much it impacts not just on a woman’s right to choose — which is a critical, critical piece — and on privacy generally. On privacy generally,” he said.
“And so I’m going to be talking to — to the governors as to what actions they think I should be taking as well. And — but the bi- — most important thing to be clear about is we have to change — I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade into law. And the way to do that is to make sure that 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 — the exce- — the — require an exception to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision,” he said.
But the two Democrats who stand against changing the filibuster said that they continue to be against it.
“Sinema stands by her opposition to gutting the 60-vote threshold despite Biden’s call for a carveout on abortion rights. Her office points to this op-ed: ‘And, sometimes, the filibuster … is needed to protect against attacks on women’s health,’” CNN reporter Manu Raju said in a tweet.
“Manchin’s position opposing reducing 60-vote threshold for filibuster also hasn’t changed despite Biden’s comments, per spox,” he said.
Even President Biden’s own Vice President, Kamala Harris, expressed skepticism about the prospects in the Senate when she spoke to CNN on Monday.
“Right now, given the current composition of the Senate, the votes aren’t there,’ Harris told host Dana Bash when asked about the possibility,” she said.
“I understand why you’re asking that question,” the vice president said. “But the reality of it is, we don’t even get to really answer that in terms of whether it happens or not if we don’t have the numbers in the Senate.”
“And again, that’s why I keep coming back to the importance of an election that is only 130-odd days away,” she said.
The Democrats definitely want to make it a voting issue, considering the state of the economy and inflation it may be the only issue they have to campaign on.
During his press conference in Madrid, the president expressed that he wanted the issue to be on the ballot in November.
“I’m the only President they got, and I feel extremely strongly that I’m going to do everything in my power which I legally can do in terms of executive orders, as well as push the Congress and the public,” the president said.
“The bottom line here is: If you care — if the polling data is correct, and 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,” he said.
