Tipsheet

President Biden Now in Support of Ending Filibuster for This Democratic Pet Issue

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  June 30, 2022 10:00 AM

During a Thursday press conference in Spain, President Joe Biden indicated in a response to questions from reporters that he would support ending the filibuster in order to create a federal right to abortion. The president had been attending a NATO summit. 

Biden spoke of the importance of "codify[ing] Roe v. Wade into law" and said that "the way to do that is to make sure Congress votes to do that, and if the filibuster gets in the way, just like voting rights, it should be – we provide an exception for this – require an exception to the filibuster for this action." 

The president is speaking of the radical legislation known as the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would actually expand the Roe decision. It would not merely create a federal right to abortion but would invalidate every pro-life state law on the books. 

While the House passed the WHPA last September, it has failed twice in the Senate and only came close to receiving a majority vote in one instance. 

Speaking of the "voting rights" that the president mentioned, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sought to nuke the filibuster in order to get that legislation passed in January and ultimately failed.

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The White House has promoted the WHPA at length, with the president doing so last Friday in his remarks after the U.S. Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade with its Dobbs v. Jackson decision. He made no mention of the filibuster, though. 

Biden's most recent remarks on the filibuster come just three days after Vice President Kamala Harris gave an exclusive interview with CNN in which she was unhelpfully vague when asked about getting rid of the filibuster when it comes to abortion. 

"He has spoken on that issue," Harris claimed about the president, going on to say, "I think he has been clear about where we stand on this issue of reproductive health and what precedent and our administration have within our tool kit to do, and so far, that's what we've been pursuing." 

As I highlighted when covering Harris' interview, several Democratic politicians and candidates have called for ending the filibuster for such a reason. 

Biden has increasingly come out in support of ending the filibuster when it comes to pet projects of the Democratic Party, though he has opposed ending it throughout his career.