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Dems on the rise for stem cells Rep. Diana DeGette, whose best hope for funding of the controversial research may be riding on overriding another expected Bush veto, likes other strategies as well. By Anne C. Mulkern Denver Post Staff Writer Article Last Updated:12/08/2006 01:22:18 AM MST Washington - Within days of taking over Congress next month, Democrats plan to challenge President Bush on the only legislation he ever vetoed: Rep. Diana DeGette's bill expanding stem-cell research. The Denver Democrat's legislation will resurface on the House floor as early as the first day of the new Congress. The issue is on a slate of priorities Democrats view as popular with voters. Bush vetoed the bill expanding federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research after it passed the Senate in July by a 63-37 vote and the House in 2005 by 238-194. Advocates of embryonic stem-cell research say it offers hope for breakthrough cures and treatments for a number of diseases. Opponents object to the destruction of human embryos involved in the research. Backers of the measure believe passage in the new Congress is likely, saying November's election sent to Washington many lawmakers who support the measure. DeGette said she's finding more House yes votes now than in 2005. But turning the legislation into law won't be easy for its backers. Bush's veto power still looms. Overriding that would require a two-thirds majority, still a high hurdle to surmount. That's forcing backers to develop new strategies, such as trying to pass the bill repeatedly and forcing Bush to confront it each time. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supports that idea, DeGette said. In the Senate, there is talk of adding new provisions to DeGette's bill to make it more difficult for Bush to veto. Republicans who support a change in the law on stem-cell research, meanwhile, are attempting to negotiate a compromise with the White House. So far Bush has refused those overtures. "When the president won't sit down and talk about it, we really are left with no other option but to keep putting it on his desk and saying the American people want it," DeGette said. "I'm going to do it until it passes." DeGette's legislation would overturn Bush's restriction that limits federal funding to research done on embryonic stem-cell lines in existence on Aug. 9, 2001. DeGette's bill would allow research on more recent lines that use embryos created for in vitro fertilization and are due to be discarded. Asked if Bush would veto the bill each time it's put in front of him, the White House reiterated the president's position. "President Bush is the first president to ever allow federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research on existing lines," a White House statement said. "After careful and thoughtful deliberation with government and outside experts, there was only one moral line that the president said that he would not cross, and that is that federal taxpayer dollars should not be used in the destruction of embryos." Opponents of the research are counting on Bush to keep it from becoming law. "I can't imagine the president wouldn't veto it in its current form," said Carrie Gordon Earll, senior analyst for bioethics with Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, which opposes the research. The veto override effort last July failed by 51 votes in the House. It did not advance to the Senate after failing in the House. DeGette won't say how many more yes votes she has now compared with 2005. She said almost all 41 freshman Democrats support it. Two-thirds have signed on as co-sponsors, she said. But many of those freshmen replaced GOP lawmakers who voted for the bill two years ago. In those cases, DeGette didn't gain a vote. In fact, 24 House members who voted for the bill last time retired or lost their jobs in November's election. Vote counts in the Senate show a gain of at least three yes votes from the 63 senators who agreed to the legislation last year. That puts the Senate within one vote of the 67 needed for a veto override. "In the Senate, it's too close to call," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who supports the legislation and is working with DeGette to pass it. "But this was a key issue in a lot of races this fall, and a new Congress could help build public support for Bush to sign the bill." DeGette this week recruited Rep.-elect Ed Perlmutter, D-Golden, to lobby lawmakers to vote yes. Perlmutter campaigned on the issue and hopes stem-cell research will help his daughter, who has epilepsy. "It can help so many people's lives who have debilitating diseases," Perlmutter said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn