173 Monday, June 19, 2006 - JUST THINKING ABOUT.NOVEMBER
"Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow, you're only a day away."
Remember that great song from the Broadway musical "Annie"? Whenever I hear
feisty little Andrea McArdle belting out that anthem of defiance, I feel
courage surging through my veins.
I woke up Saturday morning, 2:24, that tune in my brain, but with a slight
change in the words. Instead of "tomorrow", the song said:
"November, November, I love ya, November."
Like most folks connected with stem cell research, I work hard to avoid
party politics. Although proud to be a Democrat, I refuse to vote by label,
to blindly give obedience to any single party.
Given a choice between a Republican who supports embryonic stem cell
research and a Democrat who doesn't, I will vote GOP every time.
For instance, Orrin Hatch or Arlen Specter, two great champions of stem cell
research-should I vote against them, just because they are Republicans? No
way. If I was in one of their states, I would volunteer for them, go door to
door, do phone banking, write letters to the editor on their behalf.
But bipartisanship only works, if both sides work at it.
Increasingly, Republicans in power are talking only to themselves, and then
only to the "purest of the pure", the most ultra-conservatives imaginable.
Democrats are left out of the decision-making process wherever possible;
even moderate Republicans are ignored, considered almost traitors to the
cause, included only when the party wants to make a "big tent" commercial.
Since taking over Congress in 1994, the party of the elephant has increased
its hold on power until it is perilously close to dictatorship.
Republicans now control not only the Senate, but also the House of
Representatives, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
With power comes responsibility, including the official stem cell research
funding policy.
What was once a genuine attempt at compromise-the August 9, 2001 Bush
policy--  has become a choke point. The few colonies, or "lines" allowed
back then are all tainted, being built on rat feeder layers. No new lines
are currently scheduled to be funded, ever. This must change, if the
research is to move forward.
Will the party in power allow a vote to enhance research supported by the
overwhelming majority of Americans, (at last count, 72% of our country was
in favor) or will they block it, to win the applause of a powerful few?
Fourteen months ago, Dennis Hastert, (R-IL) Speaker of the House, was
approached by Mike Castle, (R-DE) who asked for a straight up and down vote
on HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.
There was a certain amount of horse-trading (Castle's vote was needed for
something Hastert wanted)-but the Representative from Lincoln's state said
yes--  and House Resolution 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act,
passed with a strong majority.
Because of the decency of two powerful Republicans, America's hope of cure
advanced.
That same bill is being held up in the Senate today, denied the vote it was
promised by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) over a year ago.
Now HR 810 is absolutely not a radical bill. It makes no statement about
Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) at all, and it guarantees no set level
of funding.
It is in fact extraordinarily modest, echoing the August 9, 2001 Bush
compromise on almost every point-except the date.
The only way it can be made less is to kill it altogether-or to link it to a
crippling bill.
If attached to a Weldon/Brownback "amendment" (like SB 650, the Cloning
Prohibition Act which would send scientists, patients, doctors and parents
to jail for SCNT),  supporters of stem cell research will have no choice but
to withdraw support for HR 810-and the Republican party.
We will never support the criminalization of research. If the Brownback bill
is attached,  we will give up on HR 810, and work to defeat the party which
suggested it.
If Republicans in power means denial of research, then our only hope is to
get as many Democrats-good, bad, or indifferent-into government.
Then, when enough of the enemies of research are gone, we will bring up a
far stronger bill.
HR 810 is a carefully drawn compromise bill, but it is also a line drawn in
the sand.
It does not have to be that way. Stem cell research should be a unifying
factor, not a wedge issue.
Think of California's Chambers of Commerce, almost entirely Republicans.
To the best of my knowledge, Proposition 71 received the endorsement of
every Chamber of Commerce up and down the coast of our beautiful Golden
State.
Those Republican leaders recognized an issue that stretched beyond partisan
concerns. They considered the needs of everyone's families, needing to be
safe from chronic disease. And something else. They saw the larger picture;
they realized that America needs to encourage the biomedical industry, not
foolishly try to crush it out. They voted with both their hearts, and their
minds, and America is the richer for their decision.
True, there is still a tiny but powerful minority of well-funded opponents
who are still trying to shut down the California research. They will not
prevail.
Does the national Republican party wish to identify itself with that
anti-research few?
If stubbornness blocks common sense research legislation that should unite
us all- America will be forced to act on purely partisan lines.
We have waited more than a year for the Senate to act.
We are patient, but we are not fools.
If November arrives without a straight, clear, honest vote on HR 810, then
it is painfully obvious that extremists control the upper reaches of the
Republican party, and there is no cure-- except to vote the rascals out.
For fourteen months, since HR 810 passed the House of Representatives, we
have had promises from the Senate.
Those promises must be made good.
I am only one small voice, reaching out to a handful of friends.
But there are millions in need of cure, and all of us are watching, and
waiting.
"November, November, I love you, November--
"You're only five months away."
By Don Reed, www.stemcellbattles.com

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