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Sen. Frist Revives Embryonic Stem Cell Bill
A bill to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research gained new life Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, urged by Nancy Reagan, brought the measure back to the full Senate and a conservative who had blocked it withdrew his objection.
But President Bush's veto threat remained.
Story Continues Below The bill would permit the government to pay for human embryonic stem cell research, a science that carries promise in the hunt for cures to diseases that afflict millions of people.
Most polls show that about 70 percent of the public supports the bill. Yet it has been stalled in the Senate since the House passed it last year.
Social conservatives liken the research to abortion because the process of extracting stem cells from the days-old embryo results in its death. Bush, who believes the practice is immoral, has threatened to veto the legislation.
Two officials close to the developments said the former first lady, whose behind-the-scenes advocacy helped the bill win passage in the House, spoke with Frist last week and urged him to advance the bill.
Ronald Reagan died in 2004 after struggling for more than a decade from Alzheimer's disease. Scientists say stem cell research could help relieve the effects or possibly lead to a cure. Frist, R-Tenn., planned to bring up the bill Thursday as part of a group of three measures. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., intended to block them, several Republican and Democratic officials said. Later Thursday as Frist prepared to present the legislation to the Senate, he and Coburn were in negotiations that could clear the way for a vote, the officials said.
Frist would have the option to call for an up-or-down vote only on the House bill, a move being considered for next month, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Frist planned to bring the bills before the Senate later Thursday. They said any senator also could try to attach the measure to another bill.
A heart transplant surgeon and possible presidential candidate in 2008, Frist stunned many in his party last year by publicly announcing his support for the bill and promising a vote on it before the 109th Congress expires at the end of this year.
© 2006 Associated Press.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Inside Cover Stories
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