Well, it’s happening. Measures to ease the restictions currently placed on human embryonic stem cell research are being debated on the floor of the Senate. Momentum has been slowly building in the House over the past few years and culminated in the passage of HR 810, an act that would loosen things up quite a bit (you need to be able to read PDF files to use this link). Unfortunately, the trend has perhaps gone a bit the other way in the Senate. Once upon a time, the Senate was just two votes short of being able to invoke cloture on the matter. I hear it’s about eight shy today. I guess we’ll see.
The bill is gathering support from a wide array of individuals outside of congress, including Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell who just today, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Minority Leader Harry Reid urging ”...the U.S. Senate to join the House of Representatives in supporting the expansion of federal funding for stem cell research, the field of science that may lead to cures for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening illnesses.” Well done Governor Rell.
If the bill passes the Senate, it is said that President Bush will most likely issue the first veto of his presidency. Stay tuned…
OK, it passed the Senate (Yahoo!). Now, we’re just waiting for the veto which should come today. I think this veto is going to really whip this into an election issue once again.
Well, that’s one for the record books. President Bush uses his first vote to perpetuate a confusing policy. Why is it confusing to me you ask? Two main reasons: (1) signing HR 810 would allow new lines that have already been derived, lines where the so-called “life and death decision has already been made” to be eligible for federal funding (in other words, ES cell lines in EXACTLY the same position as those he approved funding for in 2001) and (2) if it really is a MORAL decision in his mind, and he feels that the human blastocyst is the moral equivalent of a voter, then why doesn’t he outright ban all human ES cell research?