That's a fascinatingly moronic statement, Patches, given you're "on the wrong side of history" RIGHT NOW.
Posted on 11/24/2006 8:14:39 AM PST by yoe
WASHINGTON - Supporters of stem cell research are confident they will pass legislation expanding federally funded research in the next Congress - regardless of whether President Bush continues to oppose the move.
Congress passed the legislation last year, but Bush killed the bill, exercising his only veto in six years. But the election results have changed the landscape, and Sen. Orrin Hatch believes supporters can round up enough votes to override a presidential veto, if it comes to that.
"I think we have the votes in the Senate to override a veto, and we may have them in the House. I think we can get there," the Utah Republican said. "According to some, we're only a couple votes short, and I think I know where those votes are."
Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who will be the lead sponsor of the House bill, said she recently spoke to the 41 new House Democrats and "to describe them as wildly enthusiastic about this bill would be an understatement."
"I think the election really sent a message to Washington that the voters want embryonic stem cell research passed," she said.
House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has said passing the stem cell bill will be part of the agenda for the first 100 hours in the 110th Congress, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., chairman of the committee that deals with health care issues, says passage of the stem cell legislationis a high priority.
"We will be back again and again next year until we succeed in overturning the restrictions on stem cell research that hinder the search for new cures and delay the day when the hope of a better future becomes a reality for patients across America," Kennedy said.
Hoping to avoid that potentially embarrassing showdown with the White House, Hatch has been working with the administration to craft an agreement that might be palatable to the president, although he would not discuss specifics of the negotiations.
"I hope that if they are able to tinker with the bill a little bit, it might be more acceptable to the president," said Sarah Chamberlain, executive director of the Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of moderate Republicans who support the stem cell bill. "I hate to see the president veto it again, and I hate to see him in a position where there's a veto override. I think that would be very damaging where we don't mean it to be."
Bush implemented a policy in August 2001 allowing federal funding only for stem cell lines that existed at the time. Critics say those lines are of limited use and some are contaminated.
The stem cell legislation pushed by Hatch would allow federal funding for research on stem cells derived from embryos created for fertility clinics and donated by the patients.
Hatch says those embryos would be discarded, other- wise.
Congress passed the bill last year, but Bush vetoed it, and the House fell well short of the 288 votes needed to override the veto.
"I'm not going to stop pushing it until it's passed," Hatch said. "I think it's one of the most important biomedical research proposals in the country today."
The White House notes that the president has supported funding for research using the existing lines of embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells and cord blood.
"Those are facts that cannot be denied," said White House spokesman Blair Jones. "After careful and thoughtful deliberation with government and outside experts, there was only one moral line that the President said that he would not cross - and that is that federal taxpayer dollars should not be used in the destruction of embryos."
There is promising research on embryonic stem cells where the embryo is not destroyed, Jones said, "and we continue to look forward to the future of such research."
Stem cell research was a key issue in several races, hammered home by television commercials featuring actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's Disease, that ran in battleground Senate races in Missouri, Maryland and Virginia and were infamously mocked by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. Hatch says he begged "my good friend" Fox not to do the ads and politicize the issue because it would make it harder to win over Republicans.
"This should not be polarized," Hatch said, adding that he had made headway swaying some who had opposed the bill and at least one stem cell opponent told him privately before he lost that he would change his stance. "They're worried they may be on the wrong side of history."
rgehrke@sltrib.com
Embryonic stem cell research is fraught with problems, both moral and unproven health cures however, cloning is its one success. If so many who claim ESCR is so wonderful and yet on the other hand they are against abortion....I can't find the reasoning here. (Hatch bill S.681). This bill does not include ESCR nor does it, as far as I can tell, mention the on going use of Adult Stem Cells now nor the successes therein. Is it the federal money they are after?
I guess the Republican voters that did NOT vote, in order to send a message to Washington....might be realizing about now that it didn't do any GOOD, but did bring a lot of BAD.
bttt
While I was going to say that Hatch is a useful idiot for the Left I've decided to reconsider.
Go ahead and try to do your corporate give away to biotech companies for the purpose of destroying human life, it's a good way to get a lot of prolife blue dog democrats defeated in '08.
Don't count your Hatches before he chickens.
As a pro lifer, I am so torn on this issue. Yes I HATE the fact that babies are being aborted. However, what do we do with the aborted babies? Does everyone think that abortion rates would rise if we start embryonic stem cell research? Could we find positive out of a bad situation. Obviously, all they have to do is outlaw abortion and this issue is not longer an issue. What are they waiting for? As far as adult stem cells having more success. It could be that adult stem cells have been used longer and with more cells possibly. I don't know what the right answer is, but I sure would like to find some cures of some of these horrible illnesses that are savaging our population and families.
I think its an easy "choice."
Even if fetal stem cells were as good as they claimed (and so far they appear to be a bit of a boondogle -- to put federal money in the hands of ethically challenged biologists) we could not use them.
We can not still be a moral people and use babies (no matter how small) to prolong our own adult lives. There's a word for people who feed on others: vampires.
It is the height of naivete and stupidity for Pro Life Voters to not exercise their right to vote!
George Bush has done more for the Pro Life Movement than all of the Catholic Pro Abortion Senators!
The Dumbest thing a Pro Life voter could have done is vote for Casey Jr. and against Rick Santorum.
By doing so, the sit on your hand and not vote and poute like little children Pro life Voters have done more to advance the killing of unborn children, killing of embryos for the purpose stem cell research and the pushing forward of the concept of eutanasia to eliminate the suffering and hurting of the worlds.
It is possible this woman actually believes it too. These people are downright scary.
stem cells don't come from aborted babies. They come from embryos destroyed solely to harvest their stem cells.
Considering the astounding lack of success that researchers have had with embryonic stem cells, there is absolutely no positive to come from this. There is no justification for killing a child to harvest is's cells. What's next, killing adults to harvest their needed organs?
Yet another HOLE into which the Federal government can throw OUR money into..........in perpetuity.
Orin Hatch, tax collector for the human being killers. A nice legacy.
Hatch is such a weasel, and he obviously hasn't learned ANYTHING from the Nov. 7 upset. It's as though he wants to ensure permanent minority status for Republicans.
bump for publicity
And, unfortunately, Senator Hatch isn't alone when talking about Republican Congress-persons who haven't learned anything from the Nov. 7 upset. When the political choices are between either STUPID Republicans or STUPID Democrats, STUPID politicians will end up winning each and every time its tried!
naps...
This is about FEDERAL MONEY being spent...not about the research itself.
I don't think the fed government should ever be involved in something that could lead to cloning...and to women intentionally getting pregnant in order to "sell" their fetuses.
I voted in the last election, and will continue to vote for conservatives.
Santorum lost, but not because I personally didn't try.
To those who stood on the sidelines watching, I hope you're happy.
"I think we have the votes in the Senate to override a veto, and we may have them in the House. I think we can get there," the Utah Republican said. "According to some, we're only a couple votes short, and I think I know where those votes are."
Oh really, jughead? You think so?
Americans Continue To Oppose Funding Stem Cell Research That Destroys Human EmbryosWASHINGTON (May 31, 2006)— 48% of Americans oppose federal funding of stem cell research that requires destroying human embryos, while only 39% support such funding. The poll, conducted by International Communications Research (ICR), surveyed over one thousand adults by telephone May 19-23.
That's a fascinatingly moronic statement, Patches, given you're "on the wrong side of history" RIGHT NOW.
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