Biden backs filibuster exception to protect abortion access

US President Joe Biden on Thursday said he would support an exception to the Senate filibuster to protect access to abortion, after the Supreme Court overturned the right in a historic ruling this month.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he would support an exception to the Senate filibuster to protect abortion access, a shift that comes as Democrats coalesce around an election-year message intended to rally voters who are outraged or deflated by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Although Democrats already control the Senate by the narrowest of margins, there isn’t enough support within their caucus to change the filibuster rule, which allows any member to block legislation unless it receives 60 votes. But Biden’s statement was the latest indication that, if the party picks up a few more seats in the midterm elections in November, Democrats could seize the opportunity to pass legislation creating a nationwide right to abortion.

“If the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights,” Biden said, referencing the rare other issue where he supports sidestepping the rule. Speaking during a news conference in Madrid, where he was attending a NATO summit, the Democratic president said there should be an “exception to the filibuster for this action to deal with the Supreme Court decision.”

Democrats hold 50 seats in the 100-person Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties when she presides over the Senate. It would take 51 votes to change the filibuster rule.

But at least two Democratic senators, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, don’t support changing the filibuster rule. They also blocked an effort to protect voting rights earlier this year, dealing a defeat to Biden and Democrats who said the legislation was vital to protecting democracy.

Harris said earlier this week that “the votes don’t exist” for changing the filibuster now.

“Why are we talking about hypotheticals?” she told NPR.