As Senate leaders prepare a vote on Democrats’ bill to protect abortion rights on the federal level, senators like Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) are calling on lawmakers to end the filibuster so that the bill can be passed.
Sanders reminded us Monday that Republicans have used the filibuster in the past to advance anti-Democratic causes.
“If Republicans can end the filibuster to install right wing judges nominated by presidents who lost the popular vote in order to overturn Roe v. Wade, Democrats can and must end the filibuster to keep abortion legal,” Sanders said in a tweet.
Shortly after Donald Trump was elected to office in 2017, Republicans used their slim majority to gain control. change Senate rulesIn order to confirm Neil Gorsuch, the right-wing Supreme Court nominee with a simple majority vote and 51 votes, The move was capped off 10 months of obstruction by the GOP, led by then-Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), to block President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination, Merrick Garland.
At the time, Republicans claimed that they were acting to protect the public’s interests by not allowing a nominee to go through during an election year, even though Obama’s nomination took place nine months before the election. They rushed through the nomination for far-right Justice Amy Coney Barrett, just weeks after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death. Barrett was sworn into office only five days before 2020.
Progressive lawmakers and advocates call for an end to filibuster for years, saying that it’s the largest obstacle to progress on vital climate and social issues. Filibuster is likely to end the rights to abortion in the bill. that House Democrats passed last September.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader (D-New York), is still in power. scheduled a vote on the bill this week, saying that the vote will force Republicans — and certain Democrats — to have their votes to deny Americans abortion access on the public record.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D.Massachusetts), also called for an end of the filibuster to pass the abortion bill. In an interview with Teen Vogue last week, Warren said that she plans to fight to end the filibuster even if conservative Democrats like Senators Joe Manchin (West Virginia) and Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona) say they won’t allow it.
“We may not end the filibuster in the next hour and a half, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight to do exactly that. Change requires passion and persistence. We have to keep the pressure on, and keep it up. Those who don’t want to make change count on the fact that people get tired,” Warren said. “Over Roe v. Wade, we don’t have the luxury of getting tired. So if we want to make real change, we’ve got to push [to end the filibuster].”
Advocates for abortion rights claim that President Joe Biden is a savior of the right to choose. should step inAs the leader of the party to whip obstructionists Sinema or Manchin into submission.
Both Sinema and Manchin are available have saidThey say they are against changing filibuster regulations to protect abortion access. However, Manchin argues that the filibuster protects reproductive right, even though it is the case at the moment. Manchin still has the right to veto any changes to filibuster regulations. described himself as “pro-life” — or more accurately, anti-abortion — meaning that it’s possible that he would vote against passing the bill anyway.
If Manchin votes “no” on the bill this week, it could further fuel criticisms and frustrations against the conservative lawmaker, who has spent nearly the entirety of Biden’s time in office blocking the Democratic agenda.
