Bunnyslayer
05-19-2005, 01:41 PM
I am glad to see this is back in the news especially with South Korea making great strides maybe the churchies will pull their heads out of their butts.
I found this satement amusing since it could easily get applied to anything that taxpayers have to pay for: " Opponents say taxpayers should not be forced to pay for such research when large numbers of them believe that the resulting destruction of the embryo is immoral."
Just ask anti-war people how they feel about paying for a war. not a good can of worms to even attempt to open.
Stem Cell Debate Splits House Republicans By LAURIE KELLMAN,
WASHINGTON - The fate of a House bill that would clear the way for taxpayer money to be spent on embryonic stem cell research is less clear after its sponsors annoyed Republican leaders with a poll showing the idea's popularity in some conservative districts.
"If someone is hunting in your back 40, you want to know about it," said Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, supporting lawmakers who complained that a group of moderate Republicans commissioned polls in their districts without their knowledge.
Hastert had agreed earlier to allow a vote as soon as next week on a bill by Reps. Mike Castle, R-Del., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., to lift the ban that President Bush imposed in 2001 on research using any new embryonic stem cells lines.
Supporters, including Nancy Reagan, say such research could lead to cures for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other degenerative brain and nerve diseases. Opponents say taxpayers should not be forced to pay for such research when large numbers of them believe that the resulting destruction of the embryo is immoral.
Hastert, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other opponents of Castle's bill plan to offer an alternative by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., that would create a national umbilical cord blood bank. Cord blood cells are similar to embryonic cells but can grow into fewer types of tissues. Extracting stem cells from cord blood does not require the destruction of an embryo.
"There are some members who might be more inclined to vote no on Castle if they can vote yes on the cord blood bill," Rep. Dave Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., said Thursday.
The effort to provide undecided members an option more agreeable to anti-abortion groups jeopardizes the momentum the Castle-DeGette measure acquired after President Reagan's death last June and the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case earlier this year. Supporters claim to have about 200 co-sponsors in the 435-member House and commitments from enough other members to garner the 218 votes needed to pass it despite a White House-promised veto.
A rare split appeared in the House GOP caucus when Weldon and others said some sponsors of the Castle-DeGette bill helped finance a poll by the Winston Group in the districts of fellow Republicans showing that opposing the bill might prove unpopular back home.
The survey of 1,300 registered voters — about 100 in each if 13 districts — asked respondents for their views on embryonic stem cell research, according to the firm's spokeswoman, Amy Hopcian. Of those polled, 66 percent favored stem cell research, 27 percent opposed it and the rest were undecided.
The bill's opponents and GOP leaders criticized the polling during two meetings on Wednesday, according to lawmakers and aides. The resentment even spilled onto the House floor, where Rep. Rick Renzi (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., who opposes the bill, and Rep. Mark S. Kirk (news, bio, voting record), R-Ill., who supports it, got into an argument.
I found this satement amusing since it could easily get applied to anything that taxpayers have to pay for: " Opponents say taxpayers should not be forced to pay for such research when large numbers of them believe that the resulting destruction of the embryo is immoral."
Just ask anti-war people how they feel about paying for a war. not a good can of worms to even attempt to open.
Stem Cell Debate Splits House Republicans By LAURIE KELLMAN,
WASHINGTON - The fate of a House bill that would clear the way for taxpayer money to be spent on embryonic stem cell research is less clear after its sponsors annoyed Republican leaders with a poll showing the idea's popularity in some conservative districts.
"If someone is hunting in your back 40, you want to know about it," said Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, supporting lawmakers who complained that a group of moderate Republicans commissioned polls in their districts without their knowledge.
Hastert had agreed earlier to allow a vote as soon as next week on a bill by Reps. Mike Castle, R-Del., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., to lift the ban that President Bush imposed in 2001 on research using any new embryonic stem cells lines.
Supporters, including Nancy Reagan, say such research could lead to cures for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other degenerative brain and nerve diseases. Opponents say taxpayers should not be forced to pay for such research when large numbers of them believe that the resulting destruction of the embryo is immoral.
Hastert, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and other opponents of Castle's bill plan to offer an alternative by Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., that would create a national umbilical cord blood bank. Cord blood cells are similar to embryonic cells but can grow into fewer types of tissues. Extracting stem cells from cord blood does not require the destruction of an embryo.
"There are some members who might be more inclined to vote no on Castle if they can vote yes on the cord blood bill," Rep. Dave Weldon (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., said Thursday.
The effort to provide undecided members an option more agreeable to anti-abortion groups jeopardizes the momentum the Castle-DeGette measure acquired after President Reagan's death last June and the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case earlier this year. Supporters claim to have about 200 co-sponsors in the 435-member House and commitments from enough other members to garner the 218 votes needed to pass it despite a White House-promised veto.
A rare split appeared in the House GOP caucus when Weldon and others said some sponsors of the Castle-DeGette bill helped finance a poll by the Winston Group in the districts of fellow Republicans showing that opposing the bill might prove unpopular back home.
The survey of 1,300 registered voters — about 100 in each if 13 districts — asked respondents for their views on embryonic stem cell research, according to the firm's spokeswoman, Amy Hopcian. Of those polled, 66 percent favored stem cell research, 27 percent opposed it and the rest were undecided.
The bill's opponents and GOP leaders criticized the polling during two meetings on Wednesday, according to lawmakers and aides. The resentment even spilled onto the House floor, where Rep. Rick Renzi (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., who opposes the bill, and Rep. Mark S. Kirk (news, bio, voting record), R-Ill., who supports it, got into an argument.