Democrats force stem cell research to Senate agenda

Posted by Bob Geiger at 6:41 AM on July 10, 2006.

After going zero for three in "Wedge-Issue June," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) must have decided that it would look good on his resume to actually get some meaningful legislation passed in the 109th Congress. This forced Frist before the July 4 recess to agree to a deal with Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that will on Monday start a week of debating and voting on stem cell research in the form of three bills before the Senate.

The big one -- file this under better-late-than-never, I guess -- is H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which will "amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for human embryonic stem cell research." The House bill would permit federal funding for research using stem cells derived from embryos originally created for fertility treatments and that were expressly donated by patients.

H.R. 810 was passed by the House of Representatives on May 24, 2005 by a vote of 238-194 and is clearly being brought to the Senate floor by the GOP leadership to provide them some cover in a huge election year in which there is a real chance that they will lose both houses of Congress.

"When you ask the American people, do you want us to move forward on medical research involving stem cells, 70 percent of the American people say yes," said Dick Durbin (D-IL) on the Senate floor, before Reid backed Frist into a corner. "I guarantee that when we return after the Fourth of July recess, the month of July is going to be stem cell month in the Senate. We are going to, with regularity, come to the floor and not only speak to this issue but ask unanimous consent to move to this issue."

And it looks like Frist, who supports limited stem cell research, knew the deck was stacked against him on the issue, as both Durbin and Reid promised to loudly invoke H.R. 810 every single day in July or until it was formally placed on the Senate calendar.

"I believe the President’s policy should be modified. Which is why, with reservation, I support the house-passed embryonic stem cell research bill, H.R.810," said Frist before the holiday recess. "Let me be clear, this bill has deficiencies. If circumstances were different I would seek to ensure a much stronger ethical and scientific oversight mechanism, a clear prohibition on financial or other incentives between scientists and fertility clinics, and more explicit requirements regarding informed consent."

Undoubtedly, Frist does this with gritted teeth, while also taking comfort in the fact that George W. Bush has threatened to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act if it passes the Senate and comes to his desk. With its modest margin of passage in the House -- and the slim victory likely if it passes the Senate -- it's unlikely that Democrats could muster the two-thirds majority necessary to override Bush choosing this as the first veto of his presidency.

But, of course, nothing productive comes easy when you're in a GOP-controlled Senate and H.R. 810 will come to the floor along with two companion bills -- both by the "Opus Dei Boys" Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) -- which, if passed, will water down some features of the main bill.

S. 2754, the Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act -- authored by Santorum and cosponsored by Arlen Specter (R-PA) -- would require researchers to create embryonic stem cell lines without destroying human embryos.

The Brownback-Santorum bill, S. 3504, also known as the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006, would make it a crime to do research based on fetuses that were conceived and aborted expressly for research -- a nonsensical prohibition given that this practice is not occurring anywhere, but one that provides some degree of political cover for conservatives worried about how their Religious-Right supporters will react to a "yea" vote on H.R. 810.

S. 2754 has only one other cosponsor and, not surprisingly, S. 3504 made it to the floor remarkably fast given that it was just introduced by Santorum on June 13.

And, while it appears that H.R. 810 has the votes to pass the Senate, Brownback has made it clear that he will fight the legislation tooth and nail.

“I am opposed to H.R.810 because it would require taxpayers to fund the destruction of young human lives," said Brownback. "It has never been acceptable to use human beings as means to an end, even if that end is scientific research. I hope to see passage of the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act, which would prohibit the gruesome practice of initiating human pregnancies in either women or animal uteruses for the purpose of obtaining human tissues for research.”

An unlikely Brownback opponent on the issue may be conservative Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who is staunchly anti-choice but who appears ready to vote in favor of H.R. 810. Hatch even entered into the Congressional Record, a letter from Nancy Reagan -- with whom he is very close -- urging all Senators to vote for the legislation.

"It has been nearly a year since the United States House of Representatives first approved the stem cell legislation that would open the research so we could fully unleash its promise. For those who are waiting every day for scientific progress to help their loved ones, the wait for United States Senate action has been very difficult and hard to comprehend," said the letter from Reagan to Hatch. "I understand that the United States Senate is now considering voting on H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, sometime this month. Orrin, I know I can count on friends like you to help make sure this happens. There is just no more time to wait."

But the political drama may be only beginning if it passes the Senate, which appears likely despite Reid having to agree to a 60-vote majority for passage to get the up-or-down vote the GOP claims to love so much. The bill is rabidly opposed by anti-abortion groups and, with the debt Bush owes to the Religious Right and the noise he's already made, he'll have no choice but to veto it when it hits his desk.

This sets the stage for -- finally! -- a showdown between the executive and legislative branches of government. At that point, Republicans in both houses of Congress will have a gut-check on their loyalty to Bush and the Religious Right, versus the reality of running for reelection while not standing up for research that is supported by the vast majority of Americans.

And look for both Reid and Durbin to lend strong voices to the debate, which will certainly be watched closely by the millions of Americans who have been diagnosed with diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis in the wasted time since the House passed H.R. 810.

Said Dick Durbin: "We are running out of time. America is running out of time. We need this medical research, and we need it now. There are no good excuses left."

Update and Correction: While this article should set you up with a good understanding of the stem cell debate to unfold in the Senate, it is possible that consideration of the three bills will not happen this week as originally reported. In a June 29 press release, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had said that an agreement had been reached ""… to bring stem cell legislation to the Senate floor following the July 4th recess."

This led some of us to believe that it would top the calendar for this week when, in fact, the Senate has begun consideration of H.R. 5441, the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill today.

It now appears that Frist is committed to bringing the stem cell debate to the Senate before the end of the month, but perhaps not this week. We will keep you posted.

Bob Geiger is a writer, activist and Democratic District Leader in Westchester County, NY. You can reach Bob at geiger.bob@gmail.com and read more from him at Democrats.com.