Bush pressured on embryonic stem cell funding

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

WASHINGTON - Proponents of embryonic stem cell research are trying to build public pressure on President Bush to persuade him to not make good on his veto threat against a bill providing federal funding for the research.

Democrats are also using the issue to marshal anti-Bush sentiment in the run-up to next year’s congressional elections.

Next month the Senate will debate a bill already passed by the House providing for taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.

A bipartisan group of senators rallied Wednesday on Capitol Hill to urge Bush to sign, not veto, the bill if the Senate enacts it.

By late July, he is likely to have two bills on his desk: the House-passed bill and another one providing funding for research on umbilical cord blood that can be used to treat Hodgkin’s disease, leukemia and other disorders.

Senate progress on cord blood bill
On Wednesday the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee unanimously approved the cord blood funding bill, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

“Cord blood does not eliminate the need for research on the potential benefits of embryonic stem cells,” he said.

Referring to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Hatch said, “I’ve chatted with the leader about this, and he knows that both bills need to come up” for a vote on the Senate floor. 

The Republicans are more divided than the Democrats on taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.

Bush says he opposes taxpayer funding because such research entails the destruction of human life.

But Republican proponents such as Hatch and Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., argue that the stem cells used in research would come from embryos left over from in vitro fertilization programs, embryos that would be discarded anyway.

On Wednesday Hatch praised the House-passed embryonic stem cell funding bill and urged the Senate to pass it as well.

“It seems ridiculous to make the argument that we’re going to allow those 400,000 in vitro fertilization embryos to die by discarding them, but we can’t utilize them for the benefit of mankind,” Hatch said.

Override a Bush veto?
The Utah Republican added, “If the president vetoes it, he vetoes it,” but said he hoped there would be enough votes in the Senate to override a veto. 

“That’s wishful thinking,” he quickly added.

Sixty-seven votes would be needed in the Senate to override a veto.

While the House embryonic stem cell funding bill garnered 238 votes, it didn’t get the 290 needed to overcome a veto.

“I think the key here is to not allow this to become political,” Hatch said. “Good luck,” cracked Dodd, standing by Hatch’s side.

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