Washington – In an emotional vote that saw 50 Republicans rebel against President Bush, the House on Tuesday approved legislation to allow expanded federal funding of embryonic stem- cell research.
The bill, co-authored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., passed with 238 voting for and 194 against. All of Colorado’s Republicans voted against the bill, and the state’s Democrats voted for it.
But the legislation also saw Republicans who called themselves “100 percent pro-life voters” supporting funding of the research because they believe it could help people suffering from deadly and debilitating illnesses. Fourteen Democrats voted against it.
“I’m very happy,” DeGette said moments after the vote. “A moment like this, it just almost seems too good to be true.”
The legislation now moves to the Senate, where lawmakers say they have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and win passage. Bush has threatened to veto the bill.
DeGette and bill co-author Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., said they wanted to savor victory Tuesday and then would move on to the Senate effort. They said they want to open discussions with the White House to develop a policy that will allow the research to move forward, although Castle conceded he didn’t know what that would be.
DeGette said she hoped Bush wouldn’t use his first veto on legislation supported by “60 (percent) to 70 percent” of the American people.
Bush appears unwilling to veer from his policy of not allowing federal funding of any stem-cell lines created after Aug. 9, 2001. Hours before the vote, he reiterated his opposition to the bill as he met with 21 families with children who were born after couples “adopted” leftover frozen embryos from fertility clinics. The process of creating new stem-cell lines involves destroying embryos.
“This bill would take us across a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life,” Bush said at the event. “Crossing this line would be a great mistake.”
But one Colorado lawmaker said the vote was long overdue.
Democratic Rep. Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs said such research might have helped his father, Rep. Mo Udall, who died in 1998 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. If embryonic stem-cell technology had come along earlier, “I can’t help but think that my dad could be alive today,” he said.
Republicans opposed to the legislation said they had won, because the vote was far less than the 290 needed to override a veto. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., said Castle had previously said he could get 290 votes. Castle offered to eat paper from a reporter’s notebook if Musgrave could prove that.
The vote came after more than four hours of highly emotional debate, with lawmakers who favored the bill holding up pictures of children with diabetes and adults with spinal-cord injuries. Reps. James Langevin, D-Rhode Island, a quadriplegic, and Lane Evans, D-Ill., who suffers from Parkinson’s, spoke about the hope they had for treatments resulting from embryonic stem-cell research.
“For me, pro-life also means fighting for policies that will eliminate pain and suffering,” Langevin said. “To me, embryonic stem-cell research is entirely consistent with that position.”
Rep. Randy Cunningham, R-Calif., has said he came to support the bill after a 6-year-old girl with diabetes asked for help.
“If you have a child with diabetes, then you would support this,” he said. Cunningham became choked with emotion, then added, “I don’t want a 6-year-old to die.”
Lawmakers opposing the bill said, “We all were embryos,” with Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., saying, “I’m a 992-month-old embryo.” Lawmakers displayed pictures of children “adopted” as embryos, dubbed the “snowflake babies” because the program is called Snowflakes Frozen Embryo Adoption.
The children and their parents appeared at a morning news conference held after DeGette and Castle led a rally with patients suffering from diseases who might benefit from stem-cell research.
“When I saw the little snowflake children, I thought about their humanness,” said Musgrave during the several hours of debate. “I thought about what joy they brought to their families.”
Opponents also repeated that there have not been any cures from embryonic stem cells, while there have been treatments from adult stem cells and umbilical cord blood stem cells. Supporters of the bill pointed out the embryonic stem cells have the potential to cure many diseases that cannot be helped by adult stem cells and that the science is just 6 years old, while adult stem cell research has been around for two decades.
