• Home
  • Independent Voter News
  • Quizzes
  • Election Dissection
  • Sections
  • Events
  • Directory
  • About Us
  • Glossary
  • Opinion
  • Campaign Finance
  • Redistricting
  • Civic Ed
  • Voting
  • Fact Check
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. filibuster>

Biden calls for change to filibuster rule so Congress can codify Roe v. Wade

David Meyers
June 30, 2022
Biden calls for filibuster reform

President Biden, speaking at a NATO event in Madrid on Thursday, called for changes to the filibuster in order to protect abortion rights.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

For the second time this year, President Biden has called for changing Senate rules in order to pass legislation that has deeply divided the country. On Thursday, Biden announced his support for carving out an exception to the filibuster in order to codify Roe v. Wade.

Following the Supreme Court decision undoing Roe, which protected abortion rights at the federal level, trigger laws banned abortion in more than a dozen states with more likely to follow. And with 60 votes required to overcome procedural blockades in the Senate, advocates for women’s right to choose lack a legislative solution barring a change in rules.


In January, after Senate Republicans blocked passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Biden called for the Senate to change the filibuster rule in order to pass the legislation.

He made the same demand Thursday morning if Congress cannot find another way of passing abortion rights legislation.

“And if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights,” Biden said at a news conference in Madrid. “We provide an exception for this.”

The filibuster, which is not enshrined in the Constitution but rather a rule established by the Senate, allows an individual lawmaker to prevent a vote on the bill. The only way to break a filibuster is through a procedural motion that requires 60 “yes” votes. In a highly partisan, evenly divided Senate, that will not happen.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

While a change in rules requires a bare majority, two Democrats – Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona – have repeatedly declared their opposition to a change in rules.

A poll conducted for CBC News by YouGov in January found that about one-third of Americans want to scrap the filibuster and another third want to keep it. (The rest needed more information.) Within those totals is a partisan divide, with 58 percent of Democrats wanting to eliminate the filibuster and 65 percent of Republicans wanting to keep it.

From Your Site Articles
  • Adding justices isn't the only way to reform Supreme Court - The ... ›
  • It's time to expand the Supreme Court again - The Fulcrum ›
  • What would it mean to codify Roe into law? - The Fulcrum ›
  • End of Roe can be the beginning of healthier politics - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Can Roe v. Wade be codified into law to protect abortion access ... ›
  • Biden says the 'right to choose is fundamental,' but 'not prepared' to ... ›
  • Biden says draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade takes 'radical ... ›
  • Senate bid to save Roe v. Wade falls to GOP-led filibuster | AP News ›
filibuster

Join an Upcoming Event

STAR Voting Massachusetts Monthly Meeting

Equal Vote
Aug 08, 2022 at 7:00 pm
Read More

We the People’s Forum: Can We Move Forward On Abortion?

Braver Angels
Aug 08, 2022 at 8:00 pm EDT
Read More

Weaponizing Climate Change and Hydro-Terrorism

Mediators Beyond Borders International
Aug 09, 2022 at 10:00 am EDT
Read More

Phonebanking with Better Ballot SC

Aug 09, 2022 at 6:00 pm EDT
Read More

Algorithms & Anachronisms: How New Tech & Old Politics are Holding Us Back

Open Primaries
Aug 10, 2022 at 3:00 pm EDT
Read More

Election Observing Citizen Engagement Forum

The People
Aug 10, 2022 at 8:00 pm EDT
Read More
View All Events

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

College campuses can be the staging ground for a democratic revitalization

Clarissa Unger

The Fahey Q&A with Kaitlin LaCasse, protecting Maine elections from big money and foreign interests

Katie Fahey

America needs a Declaration of Independents

Lawrence Goldstone

Activism needs transparency, too

Alina Clough

Courage is the measure

Debilyn Molineaux

Organizing for collective impact: Transforming American democracy together

Caleb Christen
latest News

Nominations for key election leadership positions up for grabs Tuesday in four northern states

Kristin Shiuey
Reya Kumar
Richard Perrins
15h

The state of voting: Aug. 8, 2022

Our Staff
17h

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
20h

Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Barbara Rodriguez, The 19th
05 August

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Our Staff
05 August

Both parties are failing to put country over party – in totally different ways

Ross Sherman
04 August
Videos

Video: BREAKING: Democrats Move Ahead With Climate, Tax, Health Care Bill As Sinema Signs On

Our Staff

Video: The All-America City Award experience

Our Staff

Video: There's a new political party forming. See who's behind it

Our Staff

Video: The US economy

Our Staff

Video: History of Independence Day: USA's First Fourth of July

Our Staff

Video: Memorial Day 2022

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Our Staff
20h

Podcast: A conversation with social entrepreneur Sam Daley-Harris

Our Staff
05 August

Podcast: Making government work

Our Staff
04 August

Podcast: When the people decide

Our Staff
03 August
Recommended
College student voting

College campuses can be the staging ground for a democratic revitalization

Voting
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon

Nominations for key election leadership positions up for grabs Tuesday in four northern states

Voting
State of voting - election law changes

The state of voting: Aug. 8, 2022

Voting
Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcast: Framing is vital for survival

Podcasts
​Kaitlin LaCasse collects petition signatures in Raymond, Maine.

The Fahey Q&A with Kaitlin LaCasse, protecting Maine elections from big money and foreign interests

Campaign Finance
Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Vermont is poised to make history by being the last state to make history

Elections