Senate expected to OK funds for embryonic research

By Tom Strode - Aug 15, 2005 - comment

The U.S. Senate will return Sept. 6 from its five-week recess with the expectation that it will approve federal funds for destructive embryonic stem cell research. The only question in the Senate appears to be whether it will achieve the two-thirds majority needed to override President Bush’s promised veto.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R.-Pa., the measure’s leading sponsor in the Senate, has predicted his side would have the 67 votes required “by the time the vote comes up.” In a July 31 interview on “CBS News’ Face the Nation,” Specter estimated there were 62 votes for the bill at that time and another 15 senators are “thinking it over.”

The House of Representatives still appears unlikely to override a veto. The House voted 238-194 for the bill in May, leaving supporters about 50 votes short of the total required for an override.

Any uncertainty about whether the Senate would pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 810) seemed to dissolve July 29 when Majority Leader Bill Frist surprisingly endorsed the legislation. The measure would approve federal funds for research on embryos that are in storage at in vitro fertilization clinics and are donated by the parents.

The bill is designed to liberalize Bush’s four-year-old policy on funding stem cell research. In August 2001, the President issued a rule permitting funds for research only on embryonic stem cell lines already in existence prior to his announcement of the policy. After Frist’s announcement, the White House reiterated Bush’s intention to veto the legislation if it reaches his desk.

In embryonic stem cell research, embryos in normally the first week of life are destroyed when stem cells are extracted from them.

Further Learning

Learn more about: Life, Cloning, Stem-Cell Research, Citizenship, Legislation, Social Issues

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