Chuck’s push for Roe law seen unlikely to succeed
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pleaded with the Senate on Tuesday to approve a measure to legalize abortion nationwide, but the plan is all but doomed to fail.
“The United States Senate will vote [whether] to protect one of the most fundamental freedoms that women have in this country: the freedom to choose whether or not to have an abortion,” Schumer said on the Senate floor.
He called on lawmakers to act urgently now that a leaked Supreme Court draft ruling suggests the landmark Roe v. Wade decision will soon be overturned.
“For the first time in 50 years ... an extreme conservative majority on the Supreme Court is on the brink of declaring that women do not have the right to an abortion, that they do not have the right to control their own bodies,” Schumer said.
The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on the Democrat-backed bill that would codify Roe v. Wade.
“Few decisions are more private than decisions women make regarding their own pregnancies,” Schumer said. “Few should be more out of bounds to elected politicians and to the whims of government.”
The bill has virtually no chance of passing. Republicans have vowed to use their filibuster power to block it, and two Democratic moderates remain steadfastly opposed to tweaking the filibuster to allow passage with a simple majority vote instead of a 60-vote supermajority.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sought to dodge questions about whether the GOP would seek to push a nationwide ban on abortion if they take control of Congress in the upcoming midterms.
The powerful Republican suggested the main push for abortion restrictions would be in statehouses but refused to rule out a nationwide ban.
“The Senate ... is democratically chosen by the people,” he said. “If that’s the
decision, the court makes it possible for there to be votes at all levels of government and democratic bodies on this issue.”
Schumer also brushed off conservative handwringing about peaceful protests outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The Brooklyn-born lawmaker said he’s used to opinionated New Yorkers targeting his home in Park Slope on a weekly basis over one issue or other.
When his cell phone rang as he talked to reporters, he even joked that his wife was probably letting him know that a crowd was gathered.
“That’s my wife. Sorry. Maybe there’s a protest outside,” Schumer said. “But so as long as they are peaceful, that’s OK with me.”
Schumer plans to push a Democratic measure that is unlikely to win any Republican votes.
He hopes to illustrate GOP opposition to abortion rights amid a major push to exploit the issue in the upcoming midterm congressional elections.
Some moderates want him to rather allow consideration of a separate prochoice bill backed by GOP moderates Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that they say might attract a handful of Republicans.
Schumer also suggested a vote would come as soon as tonight on a bill to provide about $40 billion more aid to Ukraine.
The Ukraine aid bill was cleared for easy passage when Democrats agreed to move it separately from a bill to fund the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Leaders of the two parties are still haggling over the COVID bill, which would pay for free vaccines, therapies, testing and other prevention measures.
Democrats say the funding is urgently needed as the country faces rising caseloads driven by even more contagious subvariants of omicron.
The GOP is pressing for a vote on the administration’s divisive plan to revoke Title 42, the Trump-era border policy that used the pandemic as a reason for strict restrictions on migrants.