Senate Passes Stem Cell Bill -- Goes to Bush for Veto

By Bob Geiger

In a bipartisan display that should send a clear message to a White House bent on exercising the first presidential veto of George W. Bush's tenure, the U.S. Senate this afternoon approved H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which will expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and give hope to millions suffering from life-threatening or crippling diseases.

The vote was 63-37, meaning that it is extremely unlikely that Senate Democrats could rally the 67 votes necessary to override a certain Bush veto.

"There has been an upsurge of demand," said Hillary Clinton (D-NY). "Support for this legislation has crossed every line we could imagine, certainly partisan lines, ethnic, racial, geographic lines."

Republican supporters agreed, with Orrin Hatch (R-UT) saying that "this is the bill that will help provide the long overdue expansion of the number of stem cell lines eligible for federally funded biomedical research. This is what our leading scientists have told us they want and need to move the field of stem cell research forward."

But any hope that Bush would change his mind about vetoing the bill -- perhaps as early as tomorrow -- was shattered today by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow.

"The simple answer is he thinks murder's wrong," said Snow at the daily press briefing. "The president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something living and making it dead for the purposes of scientific research."

Also passed today -- both by 100-0 votes -- were S. 3505, Rick Santorum's (R-PA) Fetus Farming Prohibition Act and S. 2754, the Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act.

But H.R. 810 was the one everyone was watching as it was the legislation that would open the door to a new era of medical research in America -- and one supported by two out of three Americans and overwhelmingly sought by the scientific community and medical organizations.

Look for George W. Bush to slam that door tomorrow.

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com