Biden call for filibuster exception to codify ‘Roe v Wade’ immediately hits roadblocks

Filibuster rule changes would require the support of all Democrats in the 50-50 Senate.

“I believe we codify Roe v. Wade in the law, and the way to do that is to make sure Congress votes to do that,” Biden said on Thursday in Madrid. “And if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, it should be — we provide an exception for this. We require an exception to the filibuster for this action.”

Democratic leaders have renewed their call to codify abortion rights into federal law since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last week.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell blasted Biden for announcing his support for reversing the Supreme Court’s decision by codifying Roe v. Wade while he was Madrid.

“Attacking a core American institution like the Supreme Court from the world stage is below the dignity of the president,” he said in a statement.

Manchin’s office said his position against eliminating the legislative filibuster hasn’t changed, according to CNN. A spokesperson for Sinema’s office also said her stance on the filibuster is the same.

With Vice President Kamala Harris’ vote, Senate Democrats have 51 votes to pass legislation with a simple majority only. The legislative filibuster requires 60 votes for a bill to advance. Senate Democratic leaders were unable to advance federal election reform legislation without changes to the filibuster. Manchin and Sinema supported voting reform but opposed changing filibuster rules to advance specific pieces of legislation.