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From Chicago
Tribune
March 3, 2006 |
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Stem cell
issue is causing headaches
for GOP
CHICAGO
TRIBUNE
By Matthew
Chayes
Washington
Bureau
WASHINGTON
-- The drive to expand
funding for embryonic stem
cell research seemed to have
impressive momentum a year
ago. A bill sailed through
the House and such popular
Republicans as Nancy Reagan,
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Sen. John McCain were
publicly on board.
But now legislation is
stalled in the Senate, with
opponents and supporters
engaged in behind-the-scenes
maneuvering over the
measure. Proponents of
expanded research still hope
to push through a bill this
spring to increase spending
on what they consider
potentially life-saving
technology, but opponents
are equally impassioned and
the outcome is uncertain.
The crossfire could leave
Republicans in a tough spot.
Some are beginning to worry
they will be hurt in
November's midterm
congressional elections if
they don't pass a stem cell
bill. But many of the
party's conservatives
forcefully oppose embryonic
stem cell research as
tantamount to abortion, and
President Bush has promised
to veto any bill expanding
federal funding for it.
One proponent of expanded
research, Sen. Arlen Specter
(R-Pa.), chairman of the
Senate Judiciary Committee,
said he will hold a strategy
session soon with groups
backing expanded federal
research funding.
"I think we have the votes
in the Senate to provide for
federal funding for stem
cells," Specter said. "I
think we are not too far
from the number of votes to
override a presidential
veto."
Issue personal to Specter
Specter, recovering from
Hodgkin's lymphoma, views
the issue in deeply personal
terms.
"I feel very strongly about
it," he said, "because
President Nixon declared war
on cancer in 1970, and had
we devoted the resources to
that war that we do to other
wars, I might not have
gotten Hodgkin's."
Republicans are aware that,
according to various polls,
nearly 60 percent of
Americans support expanded
federal funding for
embryonic stem cell
research. Some social "wedge
issues," like gay rights,
seem to divide Democrats
from many centrist voters,
and this issue causes
similar headaches for the
GOP.
"We do not win as the
Republican Party if this is
a political issue," said
Sarah Chamberlain Resnick,
executive director of the
centrist
Republican Main Street
Partnership.
Some Republicans, such as
Sen. Jim Talent of
Missouri,
have modified their
positions. "He's in a dead
heat for re-election, and
this is a big issue,"
Resnick said. "I'd like to
say he learned the facts,
but the reality is he's got
a tough re-election."
Rich Chrismer, a Talent
spokesman, explained the
senator's switch: "He is
seeking to strike a balance
by promoting new scientific
breakthroughs . . . that
would allow us to get the
stem cells we want without
risking the cloning or
destruction of a human
embryo."
The most notable switch
came from Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
When Bush announced in 2001
that he would fund research
on existing stem cell lines
but not new ones, Frist
supported the president's
approach. But last year, the
senator--a physician and
presidential
hopeful--changed his mind
and said he supported
funding.
Frist is in a tricky
position: He needs support
from conservatives to win
his party's presidential
nomination and from
centrists to win the
election.
"It's not Democrat or
Republican, it's not
conservative or liberal,"
Tricia Brooks, director of
government relations for the
Christopher Reeve Paralysis
Foundation, which supports
the research, said of the
issue. "The support for this
legislation is vast, it's
bipartisan."
2 strongest opponents
The strongest opponents of
embryonic stem cell research
in the Senate are Sens. Sam
Brownback (R-Kan.) and Tom
Coburn (R-Okla.), who have
close ties to religious
conservatives and note that
an embryo must be destroyed
to access its stem cells.
Proponents say the embryos,
stored in fertility clinics,
would be destroyed anyway.
Coburn, a physician like
Frist, said "the science"
favors using adult stem
cells, which are taken from
bone marrow and umbilical
cord blood, rather than
discarded embryos. "The fact
is that we're going to have
a lot of those [medical]
answers without ever going
an unethical way."
Amanda Banks, a spokeswoman
for the conservative Focus
on the Family Action group,
called Specter's bill
"anti-life." She said her
group will watch how each
senator votes, "and we'll
make sure that's
communicated to our
constituents."
Stem cell research
supporters are backing the
Specter bill, which mirrors
the version the House passed
last year. Passing an
identical bill would avoid a
conference committee to iron
out differences between
House and Senate versions,
which proponents fear could
ultimately delay or doom the
legislation.
Opponents want to amend the
Specter bill or offer
alternatives, which include
bans on human cloning and
animal-human hybrids. These
proposals, scientists say,
could endanger research that
already employs forms of
cellular hybrids.
"It may be vetoed, but it's
not a dead bill," said Sen.
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), one of
several conservative
Republicans supporting the
stem cell bill. "We still
have to proceed forward
because the more we proceed,
the more people will start
to think like us."
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