Congress will vote on stem cell bill

Approximately 70 percent of the country supports the bill.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congress embarks this week on a weighty debate, deciding whether to use public money for embryonic stem cell research and, in turn, setting up President Bush's first veto.
Neither the House nor Senate has demonstrated enough support for the bill to override a veto, though the House probably will try, just to give Bush a definitive victory in the showdown.
Supporters of the research hold out faint hope that Bush, presented with new data and pressured by election-year politics, might reverse course and sign the bill.
"This would be his first veto in six years, on something that the vast majority of the public supports," said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. "What would come down on him would be all the scientists, all the Nobel laureates and everyone else who supports it."
Polls show that 70 percent of the public supports the bill, which would expand federal aid for embryonic stem cell research. The process is believed by many scientists to hold the most promise for curing diseases such as juvenile diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's that strike millions of people.
Schedule
The bill comes before the full Senate at the same time that Republicans, with their congressional majority at stake, are trying to energize their conservative base of voters during the fall elections.
Set for House action are bills to protect the Pledge of Allegiance from court challenges and a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, which failed in the Senate. Bills to encourage stem cell research from sources other than embryos also are expected to be voted on this week.
But it is the Senate's stem cell bill that probably will draw the most attention -- and Bush's first veto.
In 2001, Bush halted federal funding of new embryonic stem cell studies, comparing them to abortion because the process of extracting the crucial stem cells destroys the days-old embryo.
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