http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2211100

Bush Readies Veto for Stem Cell Bill Today

President Bush to Veto Bill Expanding Federal Funds for Stem Cell 
Research Once It Hits His Desk

By MARY DALRYMPLE
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush readied the first veto of his presidency 
to stop legislation to ease limits on federal funding for embryonic 
stem-cell research.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the bill was expected to 
reach the president's desk midday Wednesday, and that Bush would veto 
the measure as promised as soon as it does. He planned to speak about 
the issue later in the afternoon, surrounded by families who 
"adopted" frozen embryos that were not used by other couples, and 
then used those leftover embryos to have children.

While both the GOP-run House and Senate defied Bush in passing the 
measure to expand federally funded embryonic stem research, 
supporters do not appear to have the two-thirds vote margin needed to 
override such a veto.

Pleadings from celebrities, a former first lady and fellow 
Republicans did not move Bush from his determination to reject the 
bill. However, lawmakers planned to try as soon as Bush issues the 
veto.

"There is a strong difference of opinion and the president recognizes 
that," Perino said. "He also understands that there is a difference 
between when you are a scientist and when you are a policy-maker, 
when you are weighing the profound and unique responsibilities that 
you have as a policy-maker. He made this determination after 
considerable thought and much consultation with bioethicists and 
doctors and researchers and religious leaders, even family and 
friends."

The veto was following two days of emotional debate in Congress, 
punctuated by stories of personal and family suffering, that cast 
lawmakers into the intersection of politics, morality and science.

Strong majorities in the House and Senate joined sentiments with most 
Americans and passed a bill that lifts restriction currently limiting 
federally funded research to stem cell lines created before Aug. 9, 
2001.

"I expect that the House will sustain the president's veto," said 
House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Disappointed lawmakers said they intended to keep pushing to lift the 
restrictions.

"The unfortunate part is, if the president does veto the bill, then 
it sets us back a year or so until we can finally pass a bill that 
will have the requisite supermajority to be able to become law," said 
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "And that sets back embryonic stem cell 
research another year or so."

The Senate voted 63-37 on Tuesday, four votes short of the two-thirds 
majority that would be needed to override a veto. The House last year 
fell 50 votes short of a veto-proof margin when it passed the same 
bill, 238-194.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a surgeon who pushed for 
expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, said Bush 
in private conversation vowed not to let any more embryos be 
destroyed for research with federal money on his watch.

Bush has made 141 veto threats during his time in office, and the 
Republicans controlling Congress typically respond by changing bills 
to his liking.

Bush's stand against stem cells is popular among conservative 
Republicans that the party will rely on in the congressional 
elections this fall. Those opponents are the same voters who have 
felt alienated by Bush's actions to increase legal immigration, and 
the veto could bring them back into the fold.

One conservative group, Focus on the Family Action, in Colorado 
Springs, Colo., praised Bush's "uncommon character and courage in his 
defense of preborn," while blasting senators who voted against Bush. 
"Some members of the Senate who should know better voted to destroy 
human lives and that goes beyond cowardice."

Although many in the religious right are passionately opposed to stem 
cell research, most Americans support it, and Bush risks alienating 
that majority in the critical midterm year.

Bush on Aug. 9, 2001, signed an executive order restricting 
government funding to research using only the embryonic stem cell 
"lines" then in existence, groups of stem cells kept alive and 
propagating in lab dishes.

Proponents said the bill lifting that restriction also puts strong 
ethical guidelines in place, requiring donors to give their informed 
consent for using embryos that would otherwise be discarded.

On the Net:

Information on the bills, H.R. 810, S. 3504 and S. 2754, may be found 
at http://thomas.loc.gov