Emotional Senate Vote OKs Stem Cell Research

July 18, 2006 — -- After an intense debate over whether the federal government should fund research on embryonic stem cells, a debate between those who see the embryos as human life and those who side with the medical community, which argues the research could lead to cures for diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, the Senate voted today 63-37 in favor of the federal funding.

"Do we use taxpayer dollars … to destroy young human life for research purposes?" asked Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

"It offers a new hope, Mr. President, for patients -- for grandmothers and grandfathers, children, mothers, fathers," said Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.

The arguments on the Senate floor were emotional and sometimes angry, but the vote does not likely end the issue, because President Bush has said he will veto the bill, possibly as soon as Wednesday.

Among the high-profile supporters weighing in at the contentious debate today was actress Mary Tyler Moore, who has diabetes and was on the Hill urging passage of the bill.

"I'm hopeful," she said, suggesting the president might change his mind about his pledged veto. "This is an intelligent human being with a heart, and I don't see how much longer he can deny those aspects of himself."

In a statement released this evening, former first lady Nancy Reagan, whose late husband had Alzheimer's, thanked the Senate for its vote.

"The pleas of so many suffering families have finally been heard," she said. "Time is short, and life is precious, and I hope this promising research can now move forward."

If Bush does veto the stem cell bill, as he has declared he will, it will be his first veto. With it, he will take a stand against the House, the Senate, and -- according to polls -- around 60 percent of the American people

After a long, public, angst-filled debate, the president in 2001 banned the use of federal funds for research on new embryonic stem cell lines, saying he worried about a "culture that devalues life." He did allow research in progress on embryos to continue under a grandfather clause, but researchers say those stem cell lines are largely depleted or contaminated. The president estimated there were 60 of those lines; the actual number was closer to 20.