In a virtual meeting with 10 Democratic governors, President Joe Biden reiterated his support for removing the filibuster to codify abortion rights nationwide.
His hopes of codifying abortion rights, however, do not appear to be heading anywhere in 2022. Two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten
Sinema of Arizona, are both against removing the filibuster on such a vote.
“The filibuster should not stand in the way of us being able to do that. But right now we don't have the votes in the Senate,” he says.
Instead, Biden is looking to November and the midterm elections in hopes that Democrats can pick up additional seats. Even if Democrats gain seats in the Senate, keeping the House will be just as challenging.
Generally, the party that holds the White House struggles in midterm elections, and with inflation, that could make the task even taller.
Biden had hinted before Friday’s call that he would enact executive actions. But he did not unveil
“I believe we have to codify Roe v. Wade into law,” he said. “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, require an exception to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision.”
In most Republican-led states, abortions are in the process of being banned or extremely limited following last week’s ruling.