Bush vetoes stem-cell research bill

WASHINGTON -- Using his first veto since taking office in 2001, President Bush yesterday rejected a measure that would have expanded federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, marking an evolution in tone -- if not substance -- of a president who has grappled before with the moral complexities surrounding one of the most promising areas of science.

Surrounded in the East Room of the White House by families who ``adopted" frozen embryos that donors no longer wanted, Bush declared that the research fails an ``ethical test" because it requires the destruction of human embryos, which religious conservatives consider to be life. A few hours later, the House fell 51 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto, killing the measure for at least the rest of this year.

``This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush said. ``It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it."

The veto -- and the high-profile event held to publicize it -- contrasted with Bush's sober address to the nation on stem cell research five years ago.

Barely six months after taking office, Bush made a highly personal, prime-time speech from his Texas ranch. He told the nation he had reached a balance between science, ethics, and the government: tax dollars, he said, would pay for research only on stem-cell lines that had already been developed, cases ``where the life-and-death decision has already been made."

``At its core, this issue forces us to confront fundamental questions about the beginnings of life and the ends of science," Bush said in August 2001, a position that both liberals and conservatives condemned. ``I have made this decision with great care, and I pray it is the right one."

Since then, the politics of the issue has shifted dramatically, while Bush served notice that he has not. A day after White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Bush considers embryonic stem-cell research to be ``murder," the president smiled for pictures with ``snowflake babies": children born from leftover frozen embryos implanted into adoptive mothers.

``These boys and girls are not spare parts," Bush said, drawing a raucous ovation. ``They remind us of what is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research."

The Texas speech and the East Room event are evidence of Bush's steadfast beliefs -- and his willingness to exploit complex issues for potential political advantage, said Bruce Buchanan, a University of Texas professor who has tracked Bush's political career.

``The speech in Crawford presented his Solomon-like decision: It was his effort to analyze an issue and show that he could reflect his values while also listening to critics' voices," Buchanan said. ``But [yesterday's event] is rooted primarily in mid-term election politics. He's framing the issue now in a way that's purely political."

The White House maintains that the president is consistent: even though he acknowledged the potential of stem-cell research, he has also made plain that he would not countenance the destruction of embryos for the advancement of research, Snow said.

``The president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something that is living and making it dead for the purpose of research," Snow said. ``[The bill] goes a place that the president has always said that he would not go. He is fulfilling a promise that he has long made, and he is keeping it."

Still, Bush's veto dashed the hopes of stem-cell research advocates, including some conservatives who urged him to reconsider, since scientists would only use leftover embryos that fertilization clinics are about to discard, with the donors' consent.

A range of prominent conservatives backed the bill, including former first lady Nancy Reagan, Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, and Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee. On Tuesday, despite the likelihood of a veto, 19 Republicans joined all but one of the Senate's Democrats to send the embryonic stem-cell bill to the president.

But the White House in recent months showed no interest in compromise with congressional Republicans.

``I went in [to the process] maybe falsely hopeful that I could convince him," said Representative Michael Castle, a Delaware Republican who was lead sponsor of the House version of the bill. ``There was never any yield."

Representative Nancy L. Johnson, Republican of Connecticut, said Bush and his Christian conservative allies are imposing the ``blinders of a minority religious view" on science and the public. Opinion polls suggest a clear majority favors the research, which scientists say could bring cures for a range of chronic ailments, from Parkinson's disease to paralysis.

Democrats predicted that voters will punish Republicans at the polls for opposing what could be groundbreaking research. Scientists believe that embryonic stem cells are crucial because, as basic building blocks of life, they can be fashioned into any type of cell in the human body.

``This was a political veto, and I believe Americans will veto this president's narrow political agenda in November," said Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts.

But Bush seemed unconcerned. Until yesterday, only Thomas Jefferson had been in office longer without using a veto, and Bush was satisfied with his first.

Rick Klein can be reached at rklein@globe.com.