Capitol Hill Split On Stem Cells

(CBS)  Politics makes strange bedfellows, but it's not often that conservative Republicans such as Sen. Gordon Smith of Oregon line up with Democrats against the President.

"I respect his view, I simply have a different one," Smith told CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.

The issue is federal research using stem cells from human embryos. This week the Senate is expected to pass a bill allowing them to be harvested from embryos left over from fertility treatments.

To some researchers, stem cells have an almost magical quality. Think of them as nature's shape-shifters: They're not pre-programmed, and scientists believe they can be engineered to develop into bone, muscle, cartilage and more.

If scientists can perfect recipes to control them, there's hope stem cells can one day be transplanted into people to treat diseases like Alzheimer's, diabetes or even Parkinson's, which Smith said claimed his grandmother, his uncle and his cousin Mo Udall, who once ran for president.

"And you see the most dehumanizing, lengthy, painful kinds of deaths, that it does lead you to really question the wisdom of halting the research," Smith said.

So what's the controversy? Some, including President Bush, believe destroying a human embryo to get stem cells is immoral.

Mr. Bush has said: "We must proceed with great care."

Others worry that embryos or even fetuses will be created and sacrificed for the sole purpose of getting stem cells.

That's why Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., a doctor, threw some fellow conservatives for a loop when he also came out in support of embryonic stem cell research. For him, it's an ethical way to use embryos slated for destruction anyway.

"Hundreds of thousands of embryos are being thrown away today," Frist said. "A lot of people don't realize that. They're being discarded because they're not needed. They're in excess after in-vitro fertilization."

That puts the republican leader of the Senate at odds with President Bush, who favors stem cell research only using the limited number of colonies already in the research pipeline.

That's why President Bush has promised to use the veto pen for the first time on the stem cell bill. Congress can turn a veto around with enough votes, but nobody we've talked to thinks they have the numbers to do that.

So this week's Senate vote will probably make a statement, but not a policy.