WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate plans to vote on a bill next month to clear the way for government financing of new embryonic stem cell research, defying a presidential veto threat, aides close to the talks said Friday.
-
(Photo: Reuters / Peter Macdiarmid, File)Ampoules containing a medium for stem cell storage in a file photo.
Lengthy negotiations with opponents of publicly funded research using human embryos produced an agreement under which senators would vote on two bills — one similar to the version that passed last Congress, inspiring the lone veto of President Bush's tenure in office. It would lift Bush's 2001 ban on taxpayer-funded research using stem cells developed after that point in time.
To win the consent of all senators for a floor vote on that bill, negotiators agreed to a vote on a second bill more palatable to abortion opponents and other critics of embryonic stem cell research.
The alternative bill, sponsored by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., would direct the Health and Human Services Department to establish guidelines for stem cell research on embryos that have naturally lost the ability to develop into human beings. It also would ban most procedures by which embryos are created for the purpose of research.
The bills are scheduled to come to the floor April 10 for as much as two days of debate, according to aides to the sponsors, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Isakson.
The debate, one of the most emotional topics to come before Congress, centers on the still-in-development process of extracting material from days-old human embryos that can morph into any tissue in the body. Many scientists say this type of research, years away from being tested on humans, could cure diseases and injuries afflicting millions of people.
Opponents say the process is immoral because the process of extracting the stem cells kills the embryo.
Both chambers of Congress passed a bill last year lifting Bush's ban on new embryonic stem cell research paid by the government. Bush vetoed the bill and neither chamber could muster the two-thirds majority required to override the veto.
In recent days, the officials have struck a consent agreement which would give senators a choice between two bills with a 60-vote threshold for passage.
This time, however, the bill favored by proponents has been changed to make it more palatable to skittish lawmakers. Rather than simply lift the president's ban, it also states that Congress supports all types of stem cell research, including studies performed on adult stem cells and those culled from umbilical cords.
Polls have shown that more than 70 percent of the public supports public financing of embryonic stem cell research. The issue was key to deciding Missouri's Senate race in last fall's midterm elections, when incumbent Republican Sen. Jim Talent, who opposed the embryonic stem cell bill, was ousted in favor of Democrat Claire McCaskill, who supports it.
The bills are S. 5 and S. 30.
Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
RSS
