To: SeachRE who wrote (683633 ) 5/25/2005 8:32:31 PM From: stockman_scott Respond to of 769667 Shays blasts Bush on threats to veto stem cell research bill By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer May 25, 2005, 6:17 PM EDTnewsday.com WASHINGTON -- A Connecticut Republican said Wednesday that history will not look kindly on President Bush if he carries out his threat to veto a bill expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., also said that if a bill is sent to the president and he vetoes it, the Senate should take a vote to override his veto, even though there doesn't appear to be enough support in the House for an override. "I think history will be extraordinarily unkind to a veto that will be based on ideology and not on sound ethics or sound science," Shays said. "This shows that their ideology has gotten them out of the mainstream of the American people." Bush on Wednesday reaffirmed his decision to veto the bill if it gets to his desk. "The use of federal dollars to destroy life is something I simply do not support," Bush said at the White House. The bill, which lifts Bush's ban on funding for new embryonic stem cell research, passed the House Tuesday by a vote of 238-194 _ far less than the two-thirds support that would be needed to override a Bush veto. Proponents say federal funding for research on days-old embryos, using a process that destroys them, would accelerate the search for treatments and perhaps cures for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. They say the embryos would have been discarded anyway. Opponents question whether the research will lead to cures, and say that taxpayers should not be forced to finance science they see as an attack on unborn babies. Shays, who favors abortion rights, praised the House GOP leaders for allowing the vote to take place. And he said the significant Republican support for the bill shows that conservative party leaders are out of step with the country. All three of the state's Republican House members voted in favor of the bill.