Bush's First Veto will be on Stem Cell Research

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paulnotbilly

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5193998.stm

US President George W Bush is set to veto a controversial bill passed by Senators which would increase funding of embryonic stem cell research.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Mr Bush's veto - his first since taking office - would be "pretty swift".

Senators voted 63-37 to pass the bill, short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the presidential veto.

Polls suggest most Americans back the research, which scientists hope will lead to cures for serious illnesses.

Supporters of the research say the technique offers hope for people suffering degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, and for diabetes.


The simple answer is he thinks murder's wrong - Tony Snow, White House spokesman

Mr Bush has said he is against the use of public funds for research involving the destruction of human embryos.

The president has consistently opposed embryonic research on moral grounds and is expected to further explain his views later on Wednesday.

"He is fulfilling a promise that he has long made and he is keeping it," White House spokesman Mr Snow said of Mr Bush's plan to use his presidential veto.

Mr Bush has not used the veto in nearly six years in office and is the first president to complete four years in office without a veto since John Quincy Adams in the 1820s.

The stem cell debate seems set to be an issue in November's mid-term congressional elections.

The Senate vote came at the end of two days of emotional debates on three separate stem cell bills.

PRESIDENTIAL VETOES
George W Bush: 0
Bill Clinton: 38
George Bush Snr: 44
Ronald Reagan: 78
FD Roosevelt: 635
Thomas Jefferson: 0

The most controversial bill, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, scraps limits on federal funding imposed by Mr Bush in 2001.

It has already been passed by the House of Representatives.

The bill was backed by 43 Democrats, 19 Republicans and one independent, while 36 Republicans and one Democrat opposed it.

The other two - less controversial - bills received unanimous backing from the Senate, and are expected to be signed into law by President Bush.

One encourages stem cell research using cells from sources other than embryos, and the other bill bans the growing and aborting of foetuses for research.

In the years since Mr Bush imposed limits on federal funding, pressure has been building for a loosening of restrictions.

Campaigners for stem cell research include prominent Republicans such as Nancy Reagan, whose husband, former President Ronald Reagan, died after a long battle with Alzheimer's.

But Mr Bush - along with many other conservative Republicans - has remained firmly against any change to the law.

"The simple answer is he thinks murder's wrong," Mr Snow said.

"The president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something living and making it dead for the purposes of scientific research."




It's not vetoed because it could cut the gravy train that big pharma has set-up. It was mentioned prior to him stealing the election.
 
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