House Passes Embryonic Stem Cell Research Bill
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By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 7, 2007; 3:58 PM
For the third time, the House easily passed legislation today that would loosen President Bush's six-year-old restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
The bill, which matches language approved by the Senate in April, now heads to the president, who immediately renewed his promise to veto it, as he did a similar bill last July.
The House vote, 247 to 176, fell significantly short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto. But proponents of the bill, which would allow federally funded scientists to study cells from donated, frozen embryos slated for destruction at fertility clinics, may get one more opportunity to take a swing at the Bush policy.
That's because passage this time was arranged so that the Senate, rather than the House, will have the first opportunity to vote on an override. That chamber -- which passed the bill in April, 63 to 34, with two supporters of the bill absent that day -- appears to be within reach of that two-thirds goal.
While the bill appears doomed to go no farther than that, a Senate override would be a milestone for legislators and others frustrated with Bush's refusal to approve the measure, which polls suggest has the support of a majority of Americans.
"The Senate gets it. The public gets it. The House gets it. Why doesn't the president of the United States get it?" asked Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), the House bill's primary sponsor. She noted that a new Gallup poll indicates that 64 percent of Americans support embryonic stem cell research.
"For many, stem cell research is the most promising source of potential treatments and cures," DeGette said. "Unfortunately, because of the stubbornness of one man, President Bush, these people continue to suffer and wait."
Opponents of the research also directed their comments to the president.
"I thank God we have a president in the White House who will, with every confidence, veto this legislation like he did before," said Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.).
Pence and others who believe that human embryos have moral standing as members of society object to the fact that embryos must be destroyed to obtain their stem cells.
The House vote seemed unaffected by Wednesday's news that scientists in Japan and the United States -- working with mice -- had discovered a way to make cells equivalent to embryonic stem cells without having to create or destroy embryos.
Opponents of human embryo research had used those findings to bolster their case that stem cell research -- which shows potential against a wide array of diseases -- does not have to depend on the destruction of embryos.
Bush, who was at the G-8 summit of industrial nations in Germany, cited the new research in a statement issued by the White House. "I am disappointed the leadership of Congress recycled an old bill that would simply overturn our country's carefully balanced policy on embryonic stem cell research," the president said. Under the bill, he added, "American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. Crossing that line would be a grave mistake."
Proponents of the bill countered that the new experiments may or may not work on human cells and patients. Progress happens fastest, several said, when multiple avenues of research are pursued simultaneously.
The bill passed today would allow federally funded scientists to experiment on cells obtained from human embryos that are no longer needed by fertility clinic patients and are freely donated by those patients for research. It also spells out what would be the first federal ethics rules explicitly for stem cell research.
Under current policy, imposed by Bush on Aug. 9, 2001, federally funded scientists can work only on embryonic stem cells obtained from the approximately 20 colonies of cells that were already in existence as of that date. Since then, hundreds of new colonies have been created and are under study by scientists in other countries, and by privately funded researchers in this country.
The House passed language similar to today's in January, but those provisions did not precisely match the measure approved subsequently by the Senate. Today's House vote was on the language adopted by the Senate in April -- a procedural move that gives the Senate the first shot at an override vote.
A virtually identical measure was first approved by the House in 2005, and the Senate followed suit in 2006. Bush vetoed that legislation the following day at a White House ceremony that featured children produced from "rescued" frozen embryos.
Representatives today spoke passionately during an hour of debate before the vote, invoking the medical plights of family members and in some cases themselves.
Rep. James Langevin, (D-R.I.), who was paralyzed by a gunshot injury to his spinal cord years ago, reiterated his hope that stem cells may someday free him of his wheelchair.
"I'm opposed to abortion . . . but I'm committed to protection of life at all stages," Langevin said. "I believe that this legislation is vitally important."
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), a physician, saw things differently.
"I don't believe, given that millions of Americans believe in the sanctity of life, that we should be funding research that destroys human life," Weldon said. Citing the advances in mice announced Wednesday , he predicted that embryonic stem cells would before long be seen as an antiquated means of developing cures. "Science," he said, "is going to move beyond this discussion." |
