The House of Representatives defied United States President George Bush on Tuesday night and approved a Bill loosening restrictions on stem cell research on human embryos, illustrating for the second time in as many days that the president is likely to face tough challenges from Congress during his second term.
Bush called it a mistake and said he would exercise his presidential veto to block it.
”This Bill would take us across a critical ethical line by creating new incentives for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life,” the president, surrounded by babies and toddlers born from test tube embryos, said in a speech before the vote. ”Crossing this line would be a great mistake.”
The Bill was passed after an emotional debate in Congress, with supporters arguing that approving the measures could speed up cures for diseases and spinal injuries, while opponents likened it to abortion. It will now go to the Senate where it also has considerable support. Although the Bill fell a long way short of getting the two-thirds majority required to prevent a veto, it showed that even with a Republican majority in both houses the president cannot rely on Congress. Monday had witnessed a separate, long and bloody saga in the Senate over the approval of his judicial nominees.
Although Bush on Tuesday declared victory in the battle following Monday night’s bipartisan compromise agreement over the appointments, observers pointed out it was not the total victory Republicans had been demanding. They also said the deal signalled limits on the president’s executive power.
If passed into law, Tuesday’s stem cell bill would lift Bush’s 2001 ban on federal funding for new research using stem cells from embryos that had not been destroyed before August 2001. The Bill deals with embryonic stem cells, which are the building blocks for every tissue in the body. Attempting to harness those stem cells’ regenerative powers is in very early research stages, but many scientists believe it has the potential to create breakthrough treatments.
Bush claims the research destroys life because embryos are destroyed in the process. But supporters point out that there are embryos in fertility clinics that would be discarded and never used to create babies, but could be used for research purposes.
Under the Bill, couples who have undergone fertility treatments and have embryos they won’t use can make the choice of putting them up for adoption, giving them directly to another couple, storing them, discarding them or donating them to science.
The house also passed a second Bill, proposed by Republicans and supported by Bush, that would fund research using stem cells derived from adults and umbilical cords rather than from embryos.
In the Senate, the immediate consequence of the bargain over Bush’s judicial nominations hammered out on Monday night by 14 centrists from the Republican and Democratic parties was that the first of the president’s chosen judges, Priscilla Owen, was virtually guaranteed Senate approval after four years of waiting. The Senate voted to cut off debate on her nomination on Tuesday. Two more conservative judges are also likely to win confirmation without the threat of a Democratic filibuster (the practice of blocking Senate motions by talking them to death).
Bush expressed his satisfaction at a rally in Rochester, New York, on Tuesday, telling supporters: ”It’s about time … I’m pleased that the Senate is moving forward on my judicial nominees who were previously being blocked. These nominees have waited years for an up-or-down on the Senate floor, and now they’ll get one.”
Under the agreement, Democrats reserved the right to use the filibuster against judicial nominations, on condition they used it only in ”extraordinary circumstances”. That will help John Bolton, the president’s choice for the US mission at the United Nations, whose confirmation is likely to go before the Senate in the next few days. The deal specifically applies to judicial nominations, but it will have the knock-on effect of making Democrats much more cautious about wielding it against Bolton.
Democratic officials said privately on Tuesday they were focused on seeking Republican defectors to try to block the controversial unilateralist in a straight vote. – Guardian Unlimited Â