Biden: Still not enough votes to codify abortion rights
Newslooks- NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP)
President Joe Biden said Monday that Democrats still lack the votes needed to codify abortion rights into law despite his party’s stronger-than-expected performance in the midterm elections.
He said Republicans were likely to take control of the House, putting them in position to block any such legislation.
Although Democrats will maintain, or even expand, their narrow majority in the Senate, some members of his party are unwilling to sidestep filibuster rules to pass an abortion law.
“I don’t think they can expect much of anything,” Biden said at a press conference during the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia when asked what voters might see on abortion.
Biden added Monday that there likely not enough votes to codify abortion rights, as Republicans appear poised to take narrow control of the House of Representatives in this year’s midterms.
“I don’t think there’s enough votes to codify unless something happens unusual in the House,” Biden said. “I think we’re going to get very close in the House… but I don’t think we’re going to make it.”
Biden also praised the results of the midterms, where Democrats exceeded expectations by retaining control of the U.S. Senate, and could even expand their majority if Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., wins his runoff next month against Republican Herschel Walker.
Democrats have credited their push on abortion rights in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade for their better-than-expected showing, and Biden pledged last month to ask Congress to codify abortion rights federally if they held their majorities. Voters across the country voted in favor of ballot initiatives protecting abortion access last week, from California to Montana to Michigan.
The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the nationwide right to abortion earlier this year.
