Stem Cell Wedge?

Finally, a wedge issue for Democrats?

The ongoing fight over stem cells has divided the GOP. Fifty House Republicans disregarded party leaders and helped Democrats pass legislation to remove restrictions George W. Bush had imposed on the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, which scientists believe could lead to treatments and cures for many diseases. The intraparty debate was so impassioned that two Republican Congressmen on opposing sides engaged in a shoving match. Even though Bush called expanded stem cell research unethical and threatened to veto the legislation--which would be his first veto--antiabortion Republicans Orrin Hatch and Gordon Smith vowed to press ahead with a Senate version. Arlen Specter, another Republican senator championing this research, claimed his side could mobilize enough senators to defeat a filibuster threatened by GOP social conservatives and to reject Bush's veto. (The House majority was not veto-proof.) Meanwhile, the religious right--already furious that Republican senators had not nuked the judicial filibuster--accused antiabortion Republicans who advocate stem cell research of betraying the cause. Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council warned that his and other like-minded groups would no longer accord these Republicans 100 percent ratings. And the dust-up caused House majority leader Tom DeLay to return to Schiavo-style rhetoric. He called stem cell research--which uses cells extracted from leftover blastocysts (early embryos composed of 100 or so cells) stored in fertility clinics--"the dismemberment of living, distinct human beings."

Four years ago, Bush was able to straddle the line on stem cells. In a speech, he declared he had reached a Solomonic compromise. He would permit federal underwriting of research that used only pre-existing stem cell lines; he would not allow federally funded scientists to work with new lines, for that would condone (if not encourage) the continued destruction of blastocysts. Bush claimed that sixty lines were available, sufficient to support vigorous research. But there were only a dozen lines--not enough for effective research--and most were tainted by mouse DNA. But this stance enabled Bush to avoid taking a yes-or-no position on an issue that pits his social conservative base against popular opinion, which strongly backs stem cell research.

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