Stem Cell Plan Faces Vote Shortfall in Senate
WASHINGTON _ Senators who support more federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research saw the handwriting on the wall Tuesday _ and it doesn’t seem to favor their side.
They said they have the 60 votes required to pass a bill this week but were not counting on the 66 necessary to override a presidential veto.
They acknowledged that even if they could pull a rabbit out of a hat, the numbers weren’t there in the House to undo the veto.
As a marathon debate opened anew, Tuesday was long on passion but short on drama. Supporters were left to pledge that the momentum was theirs, because they expect to surpass the 63 Senate votes in July on a similar bill that led to President Bush’s first _ and only _ veto.
Bush, for his part, made it plain Tuesday that he’ll veto the measure. The bill, according to the White House, would use federal taxpayer dollars to “support and encourage the destruction of human life for research.”
At issue: whether to loosen rules that Bush set down in August 2001, which limited federal research dollars to existing embryonic stem cell lines.
Major money is at stake. During the last six years, more than $130 million in federal money has gone to human embryonic stem cell research compared with nearly $3 billion for the study of all types of stem cells, the White House said.
Those who would lift the restrictions include prominent researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where human embryonic stem cells first were isolated in 1998.
Democratic Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin want the restrictions lifted. “I will continue to support this incredibly important science that brings hope to so many people,” Feingold said this week.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has joined hands with most Democrats to ease the rules, likened them to shackling scientists. “The federal government needs to unlock the handcuffs,” he said.
The cells are derived from embryos created for fertility treatments but no longer needed, leading opponents to liken the destruction of embryos to abortion.
Hatch, though, said a “pro-life agenda demands that we care for the living, not just the unborn.” His side believes that human embryonic stem cells hold the most promise in finding cures for juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, paralysis and a host of other afflictions.
A vote might come as early as Wednesday.
Hatch said he expected that his side had 65 votes, one shy of the veto-proof 66. The two-thirds threshold would have been 67, but Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is recuperating from a brain hemorrhage and is not expected to vote.
Bill supporters said the number of human embryonic cell lines that met Bush’s cut-off date had fallen from 78 to 21, and that remaining lines were contaminated.
Most Republicans, Bush among them, support an alternative bill that Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn., put up. It promotes the derivation of human stem cells from “naturally dead” embryos, which Isakson said was how five of the existing 21 lines were derived.
Isakson said the cells are taken from human embryos that are too old for implantation but contain cells suitable for research. An aide likened it to harvesting organs from the dead.
But those behind the Democratic measure, which Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sponsored, said the alternative was a do-nothing bill.
Those behind the alternative noted that Bush’s executive order does not stop states and private interests from funding human embryonic stem cell research.
Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., lauded other types of stem cells _ derived from adult cells, cord blood and amniotic fluid _ as “beautiful” and “working” to treat at least 72 maladies, though he acknowledged that some still were undergoing clinical trials.
The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, which represents several universities, research labs and patient groups, said claims of adult stem cells used as treatments were overstated. It said relatively few had been fully tested and won Food and Drug Administration approval.
Sean Tipton, president of the coalition, said Republican senators up for re-election in `08 ought to pay attention to results in November, when five GOP senators who had voted against lifting the Bush rules were defeated: Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Jim Talent of Missouri, Conrad Burns of Montana and George Allen of Virginia.
The issue, though, does not cut neatly along party lines. For example, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., who replaced Santorum, has said that he will vote against the human embryonic stem cell bill.
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