Republicans splinter on how to handle a post-Roe world - POLITICO

Even so, Republicans need to take back Congress this fall if they want to pursue nationwide limits in the future.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told USA Today last week that a national ban was “possible” but said on Monday he would “never support smashing the legislative filibuster on this issue or any other.” With that in mind, many Republicans want to put talk of abortion legislation way on the back burner, seeking instead to recapture majorities on the Hill.Importantly, while the GOP is sure to fall short of capturing a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate this fall, the practical hurdle to any further abortion limits would be 67 votes in the upper chamber — as long as President Joe Biden is in office, he is poised to veto any such legislation a Republican Congress might send to him.Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said that while he personally supports abortion restrictions, the debate was “hypothetical” and there is no unified position in the GOP. I will always want to do what is right for the pro-life movement.”Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), another GOP incumbent, added that “returning the issue to the states does not preclude the United States Congress from legislating on the subject of abortion” but said he wants see how the states address it initially.Beyond what comes next after a toppling of the 1973 decision, Senate Republicans’ individual views on abortion range from Lankford and Ernst on the anti-abortion end of the spectrum to Sens. McConnell brought up the Democratic legislation during Monday evening’s leadership meeting, describing it as extreme, according to two attendees who spoke candidly on condition of anonymity.Democrats, meanwhile, are playing up McConnell’s suggestion of a future national ban push and warning of GOP legislation that goes beyond overturning Roe, should Republicans take back the majority and the White House.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Monday that McConnell “certainly opened the door for a federal abortion ban” and warned that “every person in America should listen to him.”McConnell cast Democrats’ position as unpopular because it would allow late-term abortions in some states, asserting on Monday that the “radicals are running the show.” But Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he was “skeptical” McConnell wouldn’t change the chamber’s rules after vowing not to, should it suit him.