Democrats on Bush stem cell veto

As everyone expected, George W. Bush yesterday took the path even more toward the Religious Right and away from science and enlightenment when he vetoed the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which had just passed the Senate on Tuesday after passage in the House of Representatives in 2005.

The bill, H.R. 810, went immediately back to the House, where a vote of 235 to 193, fell 51 short of the two-thirds majority required to override Bush's rejection of the bill that would have expanded embryonic stem-cell research and given hope to millions of Americans suffering life-threatening and crippling illnesses.

"If this bill were to become law, American taxpayers for the first time in our history would be compelled to fund the deliberate destruction of human embryos," said Bush. "Crossing this line would be a grave mistake and would needlessly encourage a conflict between science and ethics that can only do damage to both and harm our nation as a whole."

I guess to this president, stem cell research is bad for our society, but it's just fine to have taxpayers fund the killing of tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens for no reason whatsoever.

Here's some reactions from Congressional Democrats:

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA)

“I am extremely disappointed in the president’s veto and will do everything I can to make sure this groundbreaking research proposal still becomes law. Only one of the bills we passed Tuesday delivers real promise for a cure to millions of Americans. Yet this is the bill the president vetoed. The federal government should not stand in the way of a cure for some of the most debilitating diseases faced by Americans today.�