Washington – Congress embarks this week on the weightiest of debates on morality and the march of science, deciding whether to use public money for embryonic stem-cell research and, in turn, setting up President Bush’s first veto.
Neither the House nor the Senate has demonstrated enough support for the bill to override a veto, though the House probably will try, just to give Bush a definitive victory in the showdown.
Supporters of the research hold out faint hope that Bush, presented with new data and pressured by election-year politics, might reverse course and sign the bill.
“This would be his first veto in six years, on something that the vast majority of the public supports,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. “What would come down on him would be all the scientists, all the Nobel laureates and everyone else who supports it.”
Polls show that 70 percent of the public supports the bill, which would expand federal aid for embryonic stem-cell research.
The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.
The process is believed by many scientists to hold the most promise for curing diseases such as Type 1 diabetes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, which strike millions of people.
In 2001, Bush halted federal funding of new embryonic stem-cell studies, comparing them to abortion because the process of extracting the crucial stem cells destroys the days-old embryo. He said at the time that such federal support for research could continue on the 78 stem- cell lines then thought to exist.
But in the years since, the National Institutes of Health have confirmed that a fraction of that number of lines exist and that few, if any, are viable for clinical trials.
Stem-cell showdown
What’s happening: Congress is to decide whether to use public money for embryonic stem-cell research.
What’s at stake: Stage is set for President Bush’s first veto.
Political impact: Neither the House nor the Senate has demonstrated enough support for the bill to override a veto, though the House probably will try, to give Bush a definitive victory in the showdown.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
