Reagan Vs. Bush On Stem Cells
Former first lady Nancy Reagan is poised for a quiet entrance into the Senate's embryonic stem cell debate, calling up wavering lawmakers to help win passage of legislation in the shadow of President Bush's veto threat.
It will be much the same role the widow of former President Ronald Reagan earlier played during the fierce fight in the House of Representatives.
"This is a very important issue to her and I know she remains committed to the cause and will do what she can at the right time," her spokeswoman, Joanne Drake, said in an interview Thursday.
Douglas Wick, the Hollywood producer who said he persuaded Mrs. Reagan to speak out on the issue, agreed.
"Certainly when the Senate fight becomes clear, she will be involved again," said Wick, whose father, Charles, was director of the U.S. Information Agency during the Reagan administration.
"She prefers to work behind the scenes, as she did in the House," Wick said.
They spoke on the day Mrs. Reagan had taken a fall in her London hotel room. She was taken to a hospital for examination and released, Drake said.
Acknowledged by those on both sides of the stem cell issue to be the most powerful advocate involved, the former first lady wields her influence quietly — a rarity in a loud debate pitting advocates who believe stem cell research could lead to cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's against opponents, like Mr. Bush, who say it is wrong to destroy human embryos to possibly save lives.Congress is working on legislation that would lift Mr. Bush's 2001 restrictions on federal funding for new stem cell lines developed from days-old embryos. The bill passed the Republican-controlled House by a comfortable margin, but it did not attract enough votes to overcome a presidential veto.
Now Mrs. Reagan and other advocates have turned their sights on the Senate, where a bipartisan group of sponsors say they have at lest 58 votes in favor of the House-passed bill — two short of the number required to stop any long-winded debates intended to stall the bill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a physician and White House ally, said he expects the chamber to act on the bill next month.
For Mrs. Reagan, the stem cell issue is personal: Six years after his second term ended, President Reagan announced in 1994 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Millions watched a decade later when Mrs. Reagan escorted his body on a cross-country memorial tour and finally collapsed, weeping, over the coffin.
Supporters of the stem cell bill say embryonic research carries great promise in the search for cures for diseases that afflict millions, including diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
Opponents say U.S. taxpayers should not be forced to foot the bill for research that destroys the days-old fertilized embryos from which the stem cells are extracted. Instead, many of them support federally funded research on other kinds of stem cells, such as those derived from umbilical cord blood and adults.