Washington – Teenager Cody Unser rolled her purple wheelchair into lawmaker Heather Wilson’s office seeking a favor. She wanted to walk again, and needed Wilson’s help.
Wilson, a New Mexico Republican who often votes anti-abortion, decided to support legislation expanding embryonic stem-cell research.
Republican Reps. Mary Bono of California and Charlie Bass of New Hampshire grabbed colleagues in hallways and extracted promises of “yes” votes on the bill.
And Rep. Diana DeGette, the Denver Democrat who co-authored the legislation, kept a burgeoning list of those in the “yes” column. In the two weeks leading up to a vote, she rechecked their commitment every day.
Working together, the various forces helped pull off a political marvel, passing a bill opposed by Republican House leadership, President Bush and social conservatives who helped re- elect Bush. The bill appears headed for a similar fate in the Senate, though Bush has vowed to veto it.
“The fight of my career”
Success in the House came as the result of meticulous planning, political savvy, backroom deal-making and the determination of a coalition uniting Democrats, Republicans, doctors, scientists and patients.
“When I realized who the opposition would be, I knew we were in for the fight of my career,” DeGette said. “It took four years, hundreds of one-on-one meetings and a heck of a lot of shoe leather to win.”
Even opponents concede they didn’t put as good a face on the issue.
“This bill ran on emotion. It did not run on scientific fact. It did not run on research data,” said Carrie Gordon Earll, a bio ethics analyst for Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, which lobbied against the bill.
DeGette wanted legislation that would supersede Bush’s Aug. 9, 2001, executive order limiting federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research to lines already in existence. But there wasn’t the political will to do anything then, she said.
By 2004, patient advocacy groups began to push for a re- evaluation of the federal government’s embryonic stem-cell policy. Many of them see it as the best chance of curing Parkinson’s disease, Type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis and other maladies.
A member of the House minority party, DeGette had no chance of passing legislation unassisted. She brainstormed with activists from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. They knew that Rep. Michael Castle, R-Del., also was interested in embryonic stem-cell research. Castle and DeGette agreed to co-author a bill.
Then came the first test of the pair’s political know-how.
DeGette and Castle support a process called therapeutic cloning or somatic-cell nuclear transfer, in which an adult cell is put into a human egg to create subdivision. Scientists believe it could be a crucial research tool. But the word “cloning” sends lawmakers running for the exits in Congress.
So DeGette and Castle carefully crafted legislation that did the minimum they thought was important: allowing ongoing federal funding of embryonic stem- cell research with ethical guidelines.
The team quickly racked up 150 lawmakers as co-sponsors of the bill.
But the presidential election was approaching. Fearing Republicans would vote no to support the president, Castle and DeGette held off pushing their bill.
When a new Congress took office in January, the political earth shifted. A group of what would turn out to be the most crucial of political allies stepped in.
Within the Republican Party exists a group of moderates known as the Tuesday Group. They meet once a week, usually on Tuesday. The group picked embryonic stem-cell research as a top issue.
They met weekly with Castle and DeGette, formulating a strategy. Patient group representatives also attended, and working with DeGette, they led a critical aspect of winning passage, finding patients from every congressional district to meet with lawmakers.
“It worked because of the power of patients to look their member of Congress in the eye and say, ‘Won’t you let our American scientists find the solution that will help my suffering, or my child’s?”‘ said Daniel Perry, president of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research. Its 94 members include advocacy groups for diseases as well as scientific and university groups.
Republicans began to lobby other Republicans, and DeGette and five other Democrats worked on the Democrats.
Keeping the deal together
Keeping the party united became one of DeGette’s most important jobs. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi helped fight off Democrats who wanted to offer more aggressive bills. DeGette and Castle brought in scientists to talk to lawmakers.
But all that work would mean nothing if the bill never reached the House floor for a vote. Republican leadership controls which bills get brought up for votes and which die quietly.
Castle and the Tuesday Group came up with a plan. A vote was approaching on a key budget resolution. They offered to trade votes on the budget for an agreement to bring the stem-cell bill to the floor for a vote.
Castle has said repeatedly that no deal was made, that House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., rejected the offer but agreed on his own to bring embryonic stem cells to a vote.
Rep. Bart Stupak, a Michigan Democrat who opposed the stem-cell bill as written, says that’s hogwash.
“Of course he (Castle) is going to deny it, but we’ve all been around here for a while,” Stupak said. “We know how these things go.”
However Hastert reached his decision, the agreement he made granted DeGette and Castle what they wanted: a vote before Memorial Day, no amendments allowed. “Smelling victory,” the patients increased their phone calls, e-mails and visits to lawmakers, Perry said.
Then Bush issued his veto threat. DeGette went back to each of her yes votes. Only one person had changed their mind.
“We knew the only hope we would have of passing the bill was educating members and getting them locked in early,” she said. “We had the votes locked before the right wing started lobbying against this.”
Focus on the Family’s Earll rejects that bill opponents were caught off guard by the support for the legislation. She believes anti-abortion voters who backed the bill either “didn’t get the correct information … or they chose to disregard it.”
The day of the vote, as the yes and no counts appeared on a board inside the chamber, DeGette watched the screen. When the total yes votes reached 210, she began smiling, knowing that she would get the 218 needed for passage. The tally kept going until it hit 238.
Outside the chamber, Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., a key member of the Tuesday Group, hugged DeGette.
Staff writer Anne C. Mulkern can be reached at 202-662-8907 or amulkern@denverpost.com.
