Senate OKs stem-cell bill

The Senate yesterday defied President Bush and overwhelmingly approved a bill to allow federal funding of stem-cell research using embryos left over from fertility clinics, setting up a political showdown with Mr. Bush, who has vowed to veto it.

The House-passed bill — which the Senate passed yesterday on a 63-37 vote with 19 Republicans supporting it — would essentially overturn the embryonic-stem-cell research policy that Mr. Bush set in 2001, when he allowed federal funding to go to such research, but limited it to embryonic-stem-cell lines already created at that time.

“With this showing today, it is my hope that the president will listen to … 63 percent of the United States Senate,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican and main sponsor of the bill. He said it “can save so many lives” if these leftover embryos are dedicated to research instead of being thrown away.

Mr. Bush is expected to veto the bill today, and the House is expected to try but fail to override that veto as soon as tonight.

Senators such as Gordon H. Smith, Oregon Republican, and Democrats Tom Harkin of Iowa and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts joined Mr. Specter in urging Mr. Bush to change his mind.

“If he vetoes it, we will be back on it again first thing next year,” Mr. Harkin said.

Democrats, some Republicans and many scientists have been pushing for years to expand federal funding of embryonic-stem-cell research, arguing that there aren’t enough stem-cell lines covered under the Bush policy to conduct the research, with only about 20 lines now eligible.

Backers of the bill say embryonic stem cells may hold the key to curing numerous diseases and ailments, because they can develop into virtually any cell in the body. Opponents say that it’s immoral to destroy human embryos, no matter how good the cause.

“A human embryo is a human life,” Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana Republican, said yesterday. “Neither Congress nor independent researchers … should be allowed to, in effect, play God.”

But some senators who are pro-life on such matters as abortion and euthanasia support the bill.

“I believe we are aiding the living, which is one of the most pro-life positions you can take,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican. Mr. Hatch yesterday suggested that as a possible middle-ground solution that Mr. Bush could allow the government to conduct research on embryonic-stem-cell lines that have been already created by the private sector — thereby avoiding use of federal money to do actual harm to embryos.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat and possible 2008 presidential contender, warned that it would be “a serious mistake” for Mr. Bush to veto the bill, and that many Americans “believe that this holds promise for their lives.”

Democrats are planning to use the issue as political fodder in numerous election races across the country. A memo sent to Senate Democrats on Monday from the Senate Democratic Communications Center said that “vast majorities” support the bill and that if Mr. Bush vetoes it, “it will be clearer than ever before to the American people that it’s time for a New Direction.”

The memo sited surveys of strong public support for the bill from states with key midterm races, including Missouri, New Jersey, Kansas and Michigan.

But the American Conservative Union also applied pressure, sending out an “action alert” e-mail yesterday, telling its grass-roots supporters to call the White House and urge Mr. Bush to stick to his veto threat.

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