The Daily 202: Biden sharply ramps up his response to ‘destabilizing’ abortion ruling
The Washington Post
11:56 AM (16 minutes ago)
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FROM The Washington Post ... The Daily 202
By Olivier Knox
By Olivier Knox with research by Caroline Anders
Welcome to The Daily 202! Tell your friends to sign up here. On this day in 1953, the first mass-produced Corvette rolled off a General Motors assembly line in Flint, Mich. CC: President Biden.
The big idea
Biden backs filibuster exception to codify Roe vs Wade
President Biden during a news conference following the final day of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit at the Ifema congress center in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday. (Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg)
President Biden during a news conference following the final day of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit at the Ifema congress center in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday. (Valeria Mongelli/Bloomberg)
“Outrageous.” “Destabilizing.” “Mistake.”
President Biden signaled Thursday he’s heard liberals’ mounting criticism of his response to the Supreme Court ruling ending a half-century of constitutional access to abortion but told Americans the best remedy to the decision is to “vote, vote vote” for Democrats in November.
Wrapping up a trip to Europe, Biden announced at a news conference he supports exempting legislation to codify access to abortion (and privacy rights more broadly) from the Senate’s filibuster rule that effectively requires 60 votes to advance bills.
He blasted the nearly week-old Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision as “outrageous,” a “mistake” and even “destabilizing” and said Congress must act to restore access to abortion. “If the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, we provide an exception for this,” he said.
Asked about liberals’ doubts about his leadership, Biden replied: “I’m the only president they got. And I feel extremely strongly that I’m going to do everything in my power, which I legally can do, in terms of executive orders as well as push the Congress and the public.”
In a nod to the looming midterm elections — and the potential power of the issue at the ballot box — Biden said the best response is to elect more Democrats.
“The bottom line here is, if you care, if the polling data is correct, and you think this decision by the court was an outrage or a significant mistake, vote. Show up and vote. Vote in the off-year, and vote, vote, vote!” he declared. “That’s how we’ll change it.”
One notable early reaction:
WHITHER THE FILIBUSTER?
It’s not clear at all that Democrats can rally the votes to change the filibuster rules to pass the kind of legislation Biden has in mind.
The Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified Roe v. Wade, failed to get a majority in the Senate. Among its opponents: All of the Republicans who voted, plus Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.).
It was also unclear what executive actions Biden would take. The president noted he was meeting Friday with governors who have taken steps to safeguard access to abortion.
Biden came into the news conference under considerable, and growing, pressure from liberals to mount a tougher response to the ruling.
Again, the scope of his coming action isn’t clear. But this Reuters analysis from Nandita Bose and Trevor Hunnicutt, a look at what Biden and top aides have said in recent days about the response to the ruling, suggests he’ll disappoint the left flank of the Democratic Party.
“In a speech after the rollback of the [Roe] decision on Friday, President Joe Biden slammed the ‘extreme ideology’ of the conservative-leaning Supreme Court, but said then there are few things he could do by executive order to protect women’s reproductive rights.
“Since then, lawmakers including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have suggested Biden limit the Supreme Court's jurisdiction or expand its membership, end the legislative ‘filibuster’ rule, build abortion clinics on federal lands, declare a national emergency and establish Planned Parenthood outposts outside U.S. national parks, among other options.”
Instead, “the White House is pursuing a more limited set of policy responses while urging voters and Congress to act. The White House’s plans include a range of executive actions in the coming days, as well as promising to protect women who cross state lines for abortions and support for medical abortion.”
Party activists both worry about the impact on the health care of millions who might become pregnant and see the issue as energizing the Democratic base as well as potentially winning back swing voters. Which is why this paragraph is making liberals’ heads explode online.
“Biden and officials are concerned that more radical moves would be politically polarizing ahead of November's midterm elections, undermine public trust in institutions like the Supreme Court or lack strong legal footing, sources inside and outside the White House say.”
THE ADMINISTRATION’S TO-DO LIST
My colleagues Dan Diamond and Rachel Roubein flagged on Tuesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra had promised “to protect reproductive health care nationwide and ensure women can get medication abortion, but offered few specifics.”
“Becerra laid out the health department’s immediate five-point plan, including steps to boost access to medication abortion, shore up access to other reproductive health services and protect private health data amid fears that women will be prosecuted if found to be pursuing abortions in states that ban the procedure,” they wrote.
A day earlier, my colleagues Yasmeen Abutaleb, Cleve R. Wooston Jr. and Marianna Sotomayor had noted unhappy Democrats are criticizing what has become the core of the response: Tell voters to turn out for the president’s party in November, and it will protect access to abortion.
“We have Democrats that are doing the opposite, you know? They just aren’t fighting,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) said. “When people see that, what’s going to make them show up to vote? We can’t just tell people, ‘Well, just vote — vote your problems away.’ Because they’re looking at us and saying, ‘Well, we already voted for you.’ ”
What’s happening now
Supreme Court limits EPA’s power to combat climate change
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on the final day of its term on Thursday. The court issued its final opinions for the term, West Virginia v. EPA and Biden v. Texas. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on the final day of its term on Thursday. The court issued its final opinions for the term, West Virginia v. EPA and Biden v. Texas. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“The Supreme Court on Thursday sharply cut back the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to reduce the carbon output of existing power plants, a blow to President Biden’s commitment to battle climate change,” Robert Barnes reports.
Consumer spending growth slows in May, as higher prices weigh on the economy
“Overall consumer spending rose by 0.2 percent in May, down from 0.9 percent growth a month earlier, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) said Thursday. The report also showed that one measure of inflation remained steady, with overall prices up 6.3 percent in the last year,” Abha Bhattarai reports.
U.S. continues to get older and more diverse, new estimates show
“Since 2000, the national median age has increased by 3.4 years to 38.8, with the largest single-year gain of 0.3 years coming in 2021, the year after the coronavirus pandemic hit, according to the bureau’s new 2021 population estimates, an annual data set that is used to fine-tune and update existing statistics,” Tara Bahrampour reports.
OPEC reaffirms slightly higher oil output
“OPEC Plus — a combination of the 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and an informal group of non-OPEC members led by Russia — met virtually June 30 and reaffirmed an earlier decision to add 648,000 barrels a day to oil markets in July and August. Virtually all of that would come from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, says Helima Croft, the head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets,” Steven Mufson reports.
Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in as Supreme Court justice, making history
“Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is poised Thursday to make history, becoming the first Black woman to join the U.S. Supreme Court. Jackson is scheduled to be sworn in during a ceremony at the court at noon Eastern time, just minutes after Justice Stephen G. Breyer makes his retirement official,” John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro report.
Lunchtime reads from The Post
A ban, a lawsuit, an election: Abortion firestorm erupts in Wisconsin
“Democrats hope the fall of Roe — the landmark case that made abortion a constitutional right for nearly half a century — can animate their voters in an otherwise difficult election year. Wisconsin — where a law from 1849 now bans almost all abortions — will be a revealing test case that encapsulates many of the political forces charging an explosive national debate,” Hannah Knowles reports.
Antiabortion lawmakers want to block patients from crossing state lines
“The Thomas More Society, a conservative legal organization, is drafting model legislation for state lawmakers that would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a resident of a state that has banned abortion from terminating a pregnancy outside of that state. The draft language will borrow from the novel legal strategy behind a Texas abortion ban enacted last year in which private citizens were empowered to enforce the law through civil litigation,” Caroline Kitchener and Devlin Barrett report.
… and beyond
1955 warrant in Emmett Till case found, family seeks arrest
“A team searching a Mississippi courthouse basement for evidence about the lynching of Black teenager Emmett Till has found the unserved warrant charging a white woman in his 1955 kidnapping, and relatives of the victim want authorities to finally arrest her nearly 70 years later,” the Associated Press’s Jay Reeves and Emily Wagster Pettus report.
Hutchinson testimony exposes tensions between parallel Jan. 6 inquiries
“The federal prosecutors working on the case watched the aide’s appearance before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and were just as astonished by her account of former President Donald J. Trump’s increasingly desperate bid to hold on to power as other viewers. The panel did not provide them with videos or transcripts of her taped interviews with committee members beforehand, according to several officials, leaving them feeling blindsided,” the New York Times’s Glenn Thrush, Luke Broadwater and Michael S. Schmidt report.
The Biden agenda
Biden vowed to ‘do everything possible’ for migrants. Now record numbers of people are dying.
Biden addresses a news conference on the last day of the NATO summit in Madrid on Thursday. (Juan Carlos Hidalgo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
Biden addresses a news conference on the last day of the NATO summit in Madrid on Thursday. (Juan Carlos Hidalgo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
“The deaths of at least 53 people discovered in a tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Texas has put a spotlight on the Biden administration’s lack of progress in stemming migration and tackling corruption in Central American countries,” USA Today’s Rebecca Morin reports.
Biden to meet with governors on abortion rights
“After President Biden leaves Europe, the White House will announce he’ll meet Friday with governors whose states moved swiftly to protect women’s access to abortion following the court ruling,” Axios’s Mike Allen reports.
Missing from Biden’s Europe trip: An endgame for war and cheaper gasoline
“In meetings of the Group of 7 nations and NATO this week in Europe, Mr. Biden and his allies hammered home the idea that they must stand united against Russia while drawing new and firmer lines against what they see as predatory economic practices by China,” the New York Times’s Jim Tankersley and Michael D. Shear report.
“But the gatherings also underscored the war’s deep strains on Western leaders and consumers from energy costs that have soared as a result of severe sanctions imposed on Russia and that could climb higher still.”
Biden administration launches $1 billion effort to correct racist highway designs of the past
“The program, which the Department of Transportation is calling ‘Reconnecting Communities,’ will in some cases tear down highways that were built with the [express] purpose of creating physical barriers between mostly Black and minority communities. Other projects will focus on building new infrastructure, like greenways to promote cycling and walking, or transit programs, like rapid bus lines to reconnect communities to urban cores,” the Verge’s Andrew J. Hawkins reports.
$40 of gas across the world, visualized
“While U.S. costs at the pump hit records in June, they were lower than those in other countries with the largest economies, including France, Canada, China and Britain, but higher than those in other top oil-producing nations such as Russia and Saudi Arabia,” Alexa Juliana Ard, Ruby Mellen, Steven Rich and Júlia Ledur report.
Hot on the left
Democrats push for campaign reset in the most pro-abortion rights swing state
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) listens during a March 14 hearing in Manchester, N.H. (Charles Krupa/AP)
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) listens during a March 14 hearing in Manchester, N.H. (Charles Krupa/AP)
“Vulnerable Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan is hitting the airwaves with a direct appeal to New Hampshire voters after the end of Roe v. Wade: Return her to office or risk a nationwide abortion ban at the hands of Mitch McConnell,” Politico’s Lisa Kashinsky reports.
“It’s the start of a refocused midterm campaign in the libertarian-leaning state, which is now set to feature Democrats up and down the ballot leaning hard into abortion rights. But even New Hampshire — perhaps the most pro-abortion rights purple state in the country — will test just how much Democrats can rely on the issue amid deep voter concern about the economy.”
Hot on the right
Texas Republicans get deadly serious about secession
“You may have seen headlines earlier this month about how the Republican Party of Texas, in its biennial convention with thousands of delegates from across the state, approved a new platform that declared homosexuality an ‘abnormal lifestyle choice’ and said Joe Biden was ‘not legitimately elected’ president. The Texas GOP platform is routinely viewed as a hodgepodge of far-right fantasies, and these planks do nothing to contradict that verdict,” Casey Michel writes for the Bulwark.
“But another plank deserves more attention than it has received, because [it] presents a historic break—and points to the direction for the Trumpist right moving forward. With its new platform, the Texas Republican Party has formally endorsed a referendum on the state seceding from the United States.”
Today in Washington
Biden is scheduled to arrive back in D.C. from Madrid at 5:20 p.m.
In closing
Holiday weekend prep: What’s the best barbecue sauce? We tasted 13 major brands to find out.
“We took on the sticky task of tasting the top-selling brands and separating the good from the bland. We should note: Most of these sauces lean toward a smoky-sweet Kansas City-style,” Emily Heil writes. (The winner was a surprise to our taste testers!)
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Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
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