Senior Senate Democrat says changing the filibuster not likely to protect abortion rights

Biden reversal proves not enough to influence Manchin, Sinema

President Joe Biden’s reversal on the filibuster, hours after his aides said that one wasn’t coming, did not appear to have the intended effects in the Senate – and a senior member of his party is now telling him to forget it.

Dick Durbin, the Senate majority whip, spoke at a press conference on Thursday from Madrid, Spain, where Mr Biden and a contingent of lawmakers are attending a Nato meeting in the city.

At the news conference, Mr Durbin rejected the idea that the filibuster was going anywhere, pointing out that Democrats were down one vote already due to Sen Patrick Leahy’s hospitalisation, and still had to deal with two members of their caucus who do not support changing the filibuster for any reason.

Those two senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, reiterated their opposition to changing the filibuster on Thursday through statements released by their spokespeople.

“You know the numbers. A 50-50 Senate and now we have one senator who has just gone through surgery,” Mr Durbin told reporters on Thursday.

“The notion of changing the rules is that you're really at the mercy of one or two senators who can make that decision for us,” Mr Durbin added, referring to Ms Sinema and Mr Manchin.

His remarks likely mean that any effort to codify abortion rights into law is a nonstarter, given strong GOP opposition to the idea (their party leadership is already indicating support for a national abortion ban). The Democrats would need at least two more Senate votes to change the filibuster, something that could happen next January at the absolute earliest.

And the hospitalisation of Mr Leahy likely means that any other legisation that could be passed through the 50-vote reconciliation measure is temporarily sidelined too.

Altogether, the situation is disadvantageous for Democrats in both the House and Senate. House members are worried that the chamber will likely flip to Republican control after the midterms, meaning that any further attempts to get legislation out of the House (which would have to be refiled with the next Congress) would be impossible. Meanwhile, the party’s base is actively blaming their leaders, including Mr Biden, for inaction and a refusal to take actions that he apparently fears would further provoke the GOP. That inaction could drive voters, especially younger Americans, to stay home in November if they lack confidence in the Democrats’ ability to govern effectively or stand up to their GOP rivals.

Vice President Kamala Harris, a former senator like Mr Biden, issued her own statement calling for the filibuster to be changed on Thursday as well, joining a startling reversal for the White House which had repeatedly stated that the president would not endorse such a change.

“We have to codify Roe v Wade into law. If the filibuster gets in the way, the Senate needs to make an exception to get this done,” Ms Harris tweeted on Thursday.