Posted on 05/26/2005 4:47:32 PM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON, May 25 - Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican and chief sponsor of a bill to expand federal financing for human embryonic stem cell research, issued a stark challenge to President Bush on Wednesday, saying he had enough votes in the Senate to override a presidential veto of the measure.
"I don't like veto threats, and I don't like statements about overriding veto threats," Mr. Specter said, speaking at a news conference where the House backers of the measure presented him the legislation, which passed the House on Tuesday, topped with a red bow.
"But if a veto threat is going to come from the White House, then the response from the Congress is to override the veto, if we can," Mr. Specter added. "Last year we had a letter signed by some 58 senators, and we had about 20 more in the wings. I think if it really comes down to a showdown, we will have enough in the United States Senate to override a veto."
But the House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, said the bill, which garnered a majority that fell 52 votes short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a veto, would "never become law." And Mr. Bush, appearing at a news conference with the president of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, restated his opposition.
"I believe that the use of federal monies that end up destroying life is not - is not positive, it's not good," Mr. Bush said. "And so, therefore, I'm against the extension of the research, of using more federal dollars on new embryonic stem cell lines."
The back-and-forth came as Mr. Specter and other supporters of embryonic stem cell research made a push for the Senate to take up the legislation. The majority leader, Senator Bill Frist of...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
After checking this link, which seems to be undergoing improvement, I don't think they will be making much progress in a petri dish. If anyone knows of any better links on human embryology, I would appreciate it if you let me know.
ping
The senate might be able to override the veto, but I doubt the house could.
The Frankenspecter speaks!
I think the last tactic to use against W is a showdown....
I think we all know he won't back down, especially from Specter...
What an absolute creep he is.
Wish DeLay would hammer this bast*rd back to the stone age.
So Specter couldn't be bothered to hang around DC today to vote on Bolton, but he's announcing he's all set to override the President's veto on funding embryonic stem cell research? !@#$%!!!
Does Specter have Cancer or AIDS? I have heard conflicting stories.
Geez, these bozos can't get judges through, can't vote on Bolton, etc. but say they can override a pie-in-the-sky scheme of "promise" based on unsure science?
Why do all the "embryonic stem cells will cure all ills" goofballs consistently say missile defense is "impossible" or a manned mission to Mars is "unfeasible and probably impossible" or drilling and refining our own oil "will kill everything on the planet", or "if we kill that one snail darter the entire eco-system will collapse", blah, blah, blah?
Inconsistency in argument is as bad as hypocrisy.
I think we all know he won't back down, especially from Specter...
The last thing we want to see is pictures of Arlen Specter in his underwear in a British newspaper! :)
IIRC, he has a type of lymphoma called Hodgkin's disease.
At least one recent study suggests that the longer the stem cells hang around undifferentiated in vitro, the greater the chance of them turning cancerous in vivo.
Unfortunately, I don't have a link to the article I read. I believe it applied to both embryonic and non-embryonic stem cells used in animal studies.
Reeve didn't become HAIRLESS from his spinal injury.
I heard tonight that it was Specter's refusal to say how he would vote on the nuclear option that priompted Republican leaders to send deWine out to make the best deal he could. He must be dying, because he sure has no fear this week....and he really owes Bush.
Yes, the same is basically true of any cell that you culture outside of the body. We don't necessarily know of all the growth factors they need to group and develop properly. Also, we are putting them under selection pressures that favor cells that divide rapidly. Manipulation of the DNA damages it in often unintended ways. By the time you put it back into the body, you really have changed it in many ways, many of them undetectable. And you can't really practically sequence its whole genome before you do, to make sure that you've only changed the things you wanted.
The way I understood it was that it was President Bush who sent Dewine and Graham in to make the best compromise possible as Frist could not count on Specter for the 51st vote - Specter would not commit one way or another.
WOW. Verrrrry interesting. I have no idea if it's true, but it sure sounds plausible to me.
I too had wondered why Reeve had no hair --not even eyebrows left.
I heard that too. And before I heard it, I suspected it.
I think some folks are stomping a bit too hard on DeWine and Graham without knowing the full story. We'll see how this all plays out.
IMO there is a masterful chess game being played here, and it will NOT end in a win for the Dims.
That said, it's still true that Specter is a rat.
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