Showdown Looming On Stem Cells
Despite Veto Threat, Senators Push To Vote On Bill Passed By House
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Play CBS Video Video Stem Cell Veto Threat Although Congress is poised to pass the stem-cell research legislation, lawmakers don't necessarily have a 'super-majority' needed to override the president's promised veto, Gloria Borger reports.
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Video Raging Stem Cell Debate Despite the threat of a presidential veto, Republican House members helped pass a bill loosening funds for embryonic stem cell research. John Roberts reports on the debate.
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Video Stem Cell Refugees Groundbreaking stem cell research comes from abroad, and many of the United States' best scientists are leaving the country to take part in it. Elizabeth Kaledin reports on the phenomenon.
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President Bush holds Trey Jones as Tracy Jones, the mother, watches at right, in the East Room of the White House. (AP)
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Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, left, and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., have sponsored a bill in the Senate that would lift restrictions on federal funding for new embryonic stem cell research. (AP)
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Interactive Stem Cell Research Follow the debate, and learn how and why the cells are harvested.
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Interactive Bush Presidency The president's agenda, plus facts, figures, major events and key personalities.
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Interactive The 109th Congress Meet the leaders and follow the action in the House and Senate.
A majority of Americans approve of using embryonic stem cells in medical studies, according to a CBS News poll. Fifty-eight percent say they support stem cell research, while 31 percent disapprove.
Approval is higher now than it was last August; then, 50 percent approved and 31percent disapproved, but 19 percent had no opinion.
Republicans are less likely than Democrats to approve of it, although half do. Approval of stem cell research among Republicans has risen significantly since last year; then, 37 percent approved of it, now 50 percent do. Approval has risen among Democrats as well, although less dramatically, from 57 to 65 percent now.
CBS News Correspondent Elizabeth Kaledin notes that while the stem cell debate has intensified in this country, the actual research on embryonic stem cells to treat disease is moving ahead in other countries. Known as "stem cell refugees," hundreds of top American scientists have left the U.S. to work on research overseas.
The medical promise of embryonic stem cell research prompted several House members of both parties who oppose abortion rights to vote yes nonetheless. The moral obligation, they argued, rested on Congress to fund research that could lead to cures for debilitating illnesses.
"Who can say that prolonging a life is not pro-life?" said Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., who said she had a "perfect" pro-life record and whose mother-in-law had died the night before of Alzheimer's disease.
"I must follow my heart on this and cast a vote in favor," she said.
"Being pro-life also means fighting for policies that will eliminate pain and suffering," said Rep. James R. Langevin, D-R.I., who was paralyzed at 16 in a gun accident.
But Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and other House members who voted against the bill said that even if this type of embryonic stem cell research were proven to cure disease, forcing taxpayers to foot the bill would still be wrong.
"In the life of men and nations some mistakes you can't undo," DeLay said as he closed the House debate. "If we afford the little embryo any shred of respect and dignity we cannot in good faith use taxpayer dollars to destroy them."
He and Mr. Bush urged passage of another measure which would fund research and treatment on stem cells derived instead from umbilical cord blood and adults.
Blood saved from newborns' umbilical cords is rich in a type of stem cells that produces blood in the same way that transplanted bone marrow produces it. The Institute of Medicine recently estimated that cord blood could help treat about 11,700 Americans a year with leukemia and other devastating diseases, yet most is routinely discarded.
That bill passed 430-1, with Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the lone no vote.
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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