FROM: Associated Press:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White
House is expressing initial
opposition to
Senate legislation that
would explicitly
allow limited, federally
financed stem
cell research for the first
time.
The Senate Appropriations
Committee
planned to vote Thursday on
a routine
spending bill that includes
the provision. A
subcommittee of that panel
approved the
overall measure Wednesday.
The language, written by
Sen. Arlen
Specter, R-Pa., would let
President Bush
follow through on his
proposal to restrict
the research to the 64 stem
cell lines that
he said already exist.
It also would permit him to go further, as long as the
embryos used for the
research otherwise would be destroyed and permission for
their use had been
granted by the people whose fertility treatments created
them.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush would
stand by his earlier
decision on stem cell research policy. McClellan said
the White House prefers a
House version of the measure, which makes no change to
current law.
The House plans to vote Thursday on its version of the
spending bill.
Specter's language was included in a measure providing
$123.1 billion for federal
education, labor and health programs for the fiscal year
that began 10 days ago.
The provision is supported by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa,
who chairs the Senate
Appropriations subcommittee that approved the
legislation.
Some lawmakers and others believe Bush went too far in
allowing the research,
while others felt the president's plan was too
restrictive. Even before last month's
terrorist attacks put the stem cell issue onto
Washington's back burners, however,
neither side sensed it had the votes to force changes in
Bush's policy.
After weeks of deliberation, Bush announced in August
that he would permit
research only on stem cell lines that he said already
existed. Critics said they
believed Bush overstated the number of lines, or cell
colonies, and said many of
them would prove unsuitable for use by scientists.
Embryonic stem cells develop into the body's various
organs. Researchers hope to
learn to use them to create healthy cells that can heal
ailing hearts, livers and other
organs.
Federal law bans the use of tax dollars for research
that destroys embryos, which
occurs when stem cells are removed from an embryo.
The Clinton administration got around this by saying
that as long as private dollars
paid for the extraction of the stem cells, federal money
could be used for research.
Meanwhile, House-Senate bargainers signed off on the
first compromise spending
bill for fiscal 2002, which began Oct. 1. Leaders hope
to finish all 13 spending bills
for this year by late October or early November so
Congress can go home for the
year.
The $19.1 billion measure, which finances the Interior
Department and other
smaller agencies, is $300 million more than last year
and $1 billion above Bush's
request.
It provides increases over last year for land
conservation, energy programs and
restoration of Florida's Everglades.
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