Kamala Harris Makes Bold Call to End the Filibuster
Kamala Harris has a plan for restoring abortion rights as they existed under Roe v. Wade.
On Tuesday, Vice President Harris said she would support eliminating the Senate filibuster in order to bring back federal abortion protections.
“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe, and get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do,” Harris told Wisconsin Public Radio.
Harris made clear that she supports averting the usual 60-vote threshold in the Senate and using 51 votes to put reproductive rights back into law “for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.”
This comes after Senator Bernie Sanders, who previously had stood strong in support of the filibuster, said earlier this month that he would make an exception to the rule to pass abortion rights. In August, Senator Chuck Schumer suggested that Democrats would try to use the filibuster carve-out after November.
Back in 2022, Joe Biden indicated his support for a filibuster carve-out specifically to codify Roe but met roadblocks like Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema who previously halted filibuster reform.
Reinstating federal abortion rights could prove to be a salient issue for voters in swing states.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump wants women voters to “no longer be thinking about abortion” as he’ll serve as their “protector.”