Two pro-abortion rights Senators turned on Vice President and Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris over her call to end the filibuster to codify protections for almost unrestricted abortion.
Harris called for the end of the legislative filibuster in the Senate during an appearance on Wisconsin Public Radio on Tuesday to codify the right to abortion and eliminate state pro-life laws, a move with massive legislative and societal repercussions extending far beyond abortion.
Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), who left the party to become independent but still caucuses with Democrats, will no longer support Harris for president, he told CNN.
“Shame on her,” Manchin said Tuesday “She knows the filibuster is the Holy Grail of democracy. It’s the only thing that keeps us talking and working together. If she gets rid of that, then this would be the House on steroids.”
As for Manchin supporting Harris, “that ain’t going to happen,” he said. “I think that basically can destroy our country, and my country is more important to me than any one person or any one person’s ideology… I think it’s the most horrible thing.”
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who like Manchin is now independent yet still caucuses with Democrats, blasted Harris for her “terrible, shortsighted” position.
“To state the supremely obvious, eliminating the filibuster to codify Roe v Wade also enables a future Congress to ban all abortion nationwide,” Sinema posted on X Tuesday. “What an absolutely terrible, shortsighted idea.”
Manchin and Sinema, both not seeking reelection, have maintained support for the filibuster – which has been weakened significantly in the past decade as the Senate has become more majoritarian and less subject to the compromises and legislative legwork which for generations made the Senate the power center on Capitol Hill.
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) first weakened the filibuster in 2013 by deploying the so-called nuclear option – essentially breaking the rules of the Senate to change the rules – to lower the threshold for confirmation of President Barack Obama’s non-Supreme Court nominees from three-fifths to a simple majority (from 60 to 51 in a full Senate). Once Republicans took the Senate, Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) lowered the threshold for Supreme Court nominees as well.
Judicial nominees, once confirmed, are essentially installed for life. But the removal of the legislative filibuster is far different in nature.
Harris’s decision to begin eliminating the legislative filibuster could set forth a cycle of continually passing and revoking significant federal legislation from Congress to Congress, depending on who holds majorities on Capitol Hill. The change would remove incentives for Congress to pass meaningful forward-thinking legislation, instead focusing on passing red meat bills it knows is likely to be reversed in short order.
Harris, a former Senator, surely is aware of the severe ramifications. Many institutionalist Senate Democrats (who often look down upon the House for its petty partisanship and focus on messaging over policy) have opposed or avoided the issue despite leftwing activists’ increased pushed for the filibuster’s elimination.
Yet Harris, whose campaign continues to struggle to gain traction against Donald Trump, has thrown – to use Manchin’s term – the Hail Mary.
“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” Harris said Tuesday. “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.”
The Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade in 2022. Harris has made killing unborn babies by abortions central to her campaign and has repeatedly refused to cite abortion restrictions she would support. She also falsely claimed that abortions do not happen later in pregnancy.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
