Many are frustrated by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, as opinion polls show that a majority of people in the US support abortion rights.
President Joe Biden is frustrated too, and on Thursday he said he would support a move by Senators to temporarily suspend the filibuster, in order to pass legislation that would federally protect women’s rights to abortion.
Due to the filibuster, it takes 60 votes to pass some legislation in the Senate. The Senate is currently split 50-50 politically, with Vice President Kamala Harris having one vote. Fifty Democratic votes are not guaranteed on many issues, and even if they were, another nine votes would have to come from Republicans. Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have opposed ending the filibuster. That’s one of the reasons the Senate is stagnated and can’t get much done. The Republicans so far have been able to stop the Democrats from approving abortion bills.
Biden made the comments during a press conference in Spain. He has just finished attending the G7 conference in Germany.
When asked by reporters if Biden would use executive action to return the right to abortion to US women, he said that Congressional action was the only solution.
“The foremost thing we should do is make it clear how outrageous this decision was,” Biden said. “I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade in the 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, we should require an exception to the filibuster for this action,” he continued.