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Election 2006: No veto-proof majority on stem cell funding Candidates favoring embryo research won, but not in large enough numbers. Missouri voted to keep the research legal. By Kevin B. O'Reilly, AMNews staff. Nov. 27, 2006. The November elections did not produce veto-proof congressional majorities in favor of expanded federal funding for research involving embryonic stem cells, but research supporters took heart from a pair of victories in the bellwether state of Missouri. Actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease, barnstormed in support of pro-research candidates. The goal was to get enough votes in Congress to overcome a potential repeat of last July when President Bush vetoed a bill to expand funding for stem cell research using embryos left from in vitro fertilization treatments. Though Democrats won control of Congress for the first time since 1994 and promised to pursue the issue, it appears the House will fall about 30 votes shy of a veto-proof roll call, according to James Fossett, PhD, co-director of the Federalism and Bioethics Initiative at the Alden March Bioethics Institute in Albany, N.Y. "It's the states that are going to continue to spend the money and take the initiative," Dr. Fossett said. New York Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, pledged to spend $1 billion on stem cell research, and newly re-elected Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle will push ahead with plans to spend nearly $500 million to make the state a magnet for scientists. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn