Bush's first veto will be the most cruel
Posted by Bob Geiger at 6:16 AM on July 18, 2006.

Religious Right to be appeased by killing stem cell researchBlog Tools
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How devoted is George W. Bush to his patrons in the Religious Right?
No U.S. president since Thomas Jefferson, who left office in 1809, has gone
this far into a presidency without exercising veto power. But Bush is about
to use it on stem cell legislation that is bipartisan to the almost
ludicrous point of the president being out of step with conservative,
anti-choice stalwarts like Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) and Trent Lott (R-MS), who all support the bill.
The Senate began debate yesterday on H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research
Enhancement Act, which will expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell
research and open the door to enhanced treatment or cures for a wide array
of maladies including cancer, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease,
diabetes and Alzheimer's.
The legislation would mitigate the limits on federal funding of stem cell
research that Bush imposed in 2001.
But a policy statement issued by the White House said that passage of the
Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act would compel "all American taxpayers to
pay for research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos
for the derivation of stem cells. Should the legislation be presented to the
president, he would veto the bill."
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow confirmed that on Monday saying "the
administration has released a statement of administration policy expressing
a veto threat about H.R. 810, the stem cell bill, that has been cleared and
published. We've got a formal veto threat out for it in the form of a
statement of administration policy."
"It's tragic. For six years, President Bush has refused to veto a single
bill. But now he's threatening to issue his first -- ever -- on stem cell
research," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in a speech Monday
to the 97th annual NAACP convention. "He didn't veto Republican budgets that
cut from the neediest among us and plunged our country hundreds of billions
of dollars into debt. He didn't veto tax breaks for Enron and Exxon, while
hardworking families paid more for gas just to get to work or pick up their
kids from school. But now, he's going to veto a bill that offers hope to
millions of Americans suffering from cancer, or chronic and other
debilitating conditions, such as diabetes, Lou Gehrig's, or sickle cell
anemia."
A vote on H.R. 810 could happen as early as today and it is expected to pass
with broad bipartisan support. It's possible it will hit Bush's desk for the
expected veto as early as Wednesday and it is highly likely that Congress
will fail to override it. While it's very possible that the 67 votes needed
to override Bush's veto could be mustered in the Senate, the House is
unlikely to rebuke Bush. The bill passed the House in 2005 by a vote of
238-194 and 290 votes would be needed to override Bush's veto.
What is astounding is that in a 109th Congress marked by a bitter partisan
divide, Bush will be vetoing a bill that has brought even the most
ideologically-split foes together.
"Science has progressed over the last five years," said Frist in support of
H.R. 810 on Monday. "Fewer than the anticipated number of cell lines have
proved suitable for research, and I feel that the limit on cell lines
available for federally funded research is too restrictive."
Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) made an unusually personal speech in the Senate
chamber on Monday when he broached the subject of his own battle with
Hodgkin's disease and mentioned a 1970 call by President Richard Nixon to
strengthen and expand cancer research.
"Without unduly dwelling on my own situation with Hodgkin's -- a year of
chemotherapy -- I think had that research been fulfilled, I would have been
spared that malady," said Specter, who also commented on the untold number
of people who have died of diseases "which could be cured with stem cell
research."
Ted Kennedy (D-MA) even invoked the Bible in his plea to Bush to support the
life-saving research when it reaches his desk.
"Hope is what stem cell research brings to millions of Americans who seek
better treatments and better drugs for cancer, diabetes, spinal injury, and
many other serious conditions," said Kennedy. "Hope cannot be extinguished
or destroyed, but it can be delayed. In the Bible, the Book of Proverbs
tells us, 'Hope deferred makes the heart sick.' And today hearts are sick
almost to the breaking point, because for the past five the Bush
Administration has shut down the stem cell research program begun at
National Institute of Health, and imposed arbitrary restrictions on this
life-saving research."
All of this will undoubtedly fall on deaf ears when dealing with a man like
Bush, who presided over so many executions while Governor of Texas and yet
takes a firm stance on life when it deals with clumps of cells invisible to
the naked eye and used less than a week after fertilization.
And there is no shortage of viable cells, with more than 400,000 ready for
research at fertility clinics across the country.
Which makes one of the other three bills to be considered this week, Rick
Santorum's (R-PA) Fetus Farming Prohibition Act -- which he authored along
with his Opus Dei buddy, Sam Brownback (R-KS) -- even more bizarre. The bill
would make it a crime to use stem cells (or any other tissue) if the
material comes from a pregnancy initiated and terminated specifically to
produce tissue.
Brownback quoted Christian writer C.S. Lewis in arguing that the procedure
is an affront to human dignity: "If man chooses to treat himself as raw
material, raw material he will be."
Of course, with 400,000 frozen embryos waiting in the wings, this isn't a
realistic issue to even be addressing and, like Bush's promised veto, it is
only being proposed to appease their far-right constituency.
That bill and Specter's Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies
Enhancement Act -- which simply encourages scientists to search for ways to
derive all-purpose stem cells from sources other than embryos -- are also
expected to pass the Senate if for no other reason than that they are not
very controversial. In addition, not one of the 55 Senate Republicans would
dare vote against them.
But the stem-cell news this week will be ruled by Bush and, given that he
has been promising this veto for five years, there's very little chance that
his pen won't be used to squash the hopes of many people who have waited for
this moment.
"There are so many people who will be watching, who will be hoping, who will
be praying that he signs this legislation," said Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Said Ted Kennedy in his arguments on the Senate floor Monday: "We must cast
a vote of conscience and of courage. We must reaffirm that our common value
of bringing hope to those who need it outweighs any single ideology, we must
approve the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, and we must call upon the
President of the United States not to veto hope."
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Bob Geiger is a writer, activist and Democratic District Leader in
Westchester County, NY. You can reach Bob at [log in to unmask] and read
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