Washington – Defying President Bush’s promised veto, the U.S. Senate voted 63-37 Tuesday to allow increased federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
Nineteen Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one independent in supporting a bill – co-authored by Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, and Mike Castle, R-Del. – that proponents said could lead researchers to cures for many diseases and injuries.
But the yes vote fell four short of the two-thirds needed to override a veto, which is expected to come quickly. Bush will veto the bill because “he thinks murder’s wrong,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
“Passing the bill in the Senate, and with 63 votes, is just huge,” DeGette said. “I’m disappointed with the president’s veto threat, but … it won’t stop this from becoming law.
“It might stop it in the short term … but it the longer term, the growing consensus shows he’s just out of step with what most Americans think.”
Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., voted against the bill. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., voted for it.
Like many opponents of the measure, Allard spoke of adult stem cells as a potential alternative to using human embryos.
“Research using adult stem cells has produced results that have the potential to cure numerous diseases and we should continue exploring the possibilities of that research,” Allard said.
But backers of DeGette’s bill said embryonic stem cell research offers the best chance of medical breakthroughs.
California’s Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in an open letter urged Bush “not to make the first veto of your presidency one that turns America backwards on the path of scientific progress and limits the promise of medical miracles for generations to come.”
Once Bush vetoes the bill, it will be sent back to the U.S. House, where it originated, for an override vote. It needs 290 votes for an override, 52 more than it received when the House passed it last May.
Congressional sources said that it has a “zero” chance of clearing that bar.
Senate backers of the DeGette-Castle bill declared victory, despite Bush’s impending veto, saying passage by a bipartisan vote created great hope for people suffering from deadly and debilitating diseases. They vowed not to give up.
“We will come back again and again and again,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., one of several GOP supporters.
Bush had planned to veto the bill quickly and force a House override vote by Wednesday night, Republican supporters said. But the timing was thrown up in the air Tuesday night.
After he vetoed the DeGette-Castle bill, Bush planned to sign into law two other stem cell bills that were passed unanimously by the Senate on Tuesday.
One would ban growing and aborting embryos explicitly to harvest stem cells. The other would direct the National Institutes of Health to find other types of cells that could take on the qualities of embryonic stem cells, which divide unceasingly.
Immediately after they passed the Senate, those bills were rushed over to the House for passage. But the bill dealing with NIH research failed to pass the House. It needed a two-thirds majority to pass under a rule used to vote quickly, but fell seven votes short of the tally needed.
That measure will now need to be put to a second vote with new rules. How quickly that can be done – and whether Bush will proceed with a veto of the DeGette-Castle bill in the meantime – wasn’t clear late Tuesday.
DeGette came to the Senate to watch the vote on her bill, sitting in the back of the chamber and nodding her head as senators argued for the bill.
When senators entered the chamber to vote, DeGette greeted several, including Specter and Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., another supporter. She told them, “thank you,” and patted Frist on the back.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., put his arm around DeGette’s shoulder after seeing her in the chamber. Former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., was also in the chamber, and DeGette greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. She also hugged and kissed Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, a supporter, with a kiss audible several feet away.
DeGette was unable to watch the actual vote on her bill, however. After the bill banning the growing of embryos for stem cell use passed, a Senate clerk told DeGette she needed to rush to the House because it was taking up that bill.
DeGette was on the House floor, managing debate on the new Senate stem cell bills, when she heard her measure had passed the Senate. She smiled.
