Senate stem cell vote nears
Frist moves bill under pressure; faces Bush veto
WASHINGTON -- Senate majority leader Bill Frist is looking to schedule a vote next month on a controversial bill to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a move that could provoke President Bush to issue the first veto of his presidency.
Under pressure from Democrats and some of his fellow Republicans, Frist is negotiating with Senate Democratic leaders to bring the stem cell bill --approved by the House last month -- up for a vote, said Amy Call, a Frist spokeswoman.
Frist, a heart surgeon, is ''uneasy about the content of the House bill," but is open to bringing it up for a vote along with other legislation that deals with stem cell research, Call said. The content of any competing bills is not yet clear.
Call said no agreement has been reached yet, but aides to Democratic senators said yesterday that Frist has assured them a vote before the Senate breaks for the summer at the end of July.
Conservative senators, led by Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, have vowed to mount a filibuster if the House-passed bill reaches the Senate floor. Embryonic stem cell research requires the destruction of embryos, sparking opposition from many in the antiabortion movement.
The bill's backers note that the embryos on which federally funded research would be permissible are slated for destruction anyway at in vitro fertilization clinics. Embryonic stem cell research holds the promise of curing a variety of chronic diseases; unlike adult stem cells, embryonic cells can be transformed into many varieties of human cells to reproduce or repair damaged tissue.
Senate supporters of the bill predict they will have more than the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, called on Frist to quickly allow a vote on the bill passed by the House.
''The stem cell bill . . . will enable talented medical researchers in Massachusetts to develop breakthrough cures for the illnesses that shorten lives and deprive families of their loved ones," Kennedy said.
Senate approval of the bill would leave it on Bush's desk, where it is headed for a veto promised by the president. In the House, the measure fell 52 votes short of the margin needed to override a presidential veto.
