Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (R) probably wishes the pending stem-cell bill died in the House so he wouldn’t have to deal with it in the Senate. With the debate ongoing, the legislation has pushed him to the brink of incoherence.
As a result of the stem-cell debate, for example, we’ve learned that Brownback is largely opposed to in vitro fertilization and wants the federal government to regulate and establish limits on how many eggs can be used in the process. Brownback’s approach to the issue would, in turn, decrease the chances of IVF helping couples have babies. And he’s supposed to be pro-family.
On CBS’s Face the Nation yesterday, Brownback really lost it when talking about the issue.
“This will be one of, I believe, the first time we’ve ever used taxpayer money to pay for the intentional destruction of human life and that’s what this does.”
Putting aside the question over whether a discarded blastocyst is a person, Brownback is apparently confused. We use taxpayer money to fight wars that kill people, and Brownback supports that. We use taxpayer money to execute those convicted of capital crime, and Brownback supports that too. Would stem-cell research really be breaking new ground in this area? Not so much.
But that’s not the only disconcerting thing Brownback said on the program yesterday.
“[W]hat I’m talking about is the further creation of additional embryos for the specific purpose of research. We shouldn’t be doing that. We shouldn’t create an embryo that’s a clone for the purpose of research. And so that’s what I’m focusing is let’s not take that additional step now to where we’re creating human life for the specific purpose just as research. That’s not right.”
The current debate in Congress is over a bill that would use federal funding to conduct research on embryos discarded after IVF treatment — not “cloning” and not “creating additional embryos for the specific purpose of research.” Brownback must know this. He’s arguing against a scenario that does not exist.
So, we have a leading Republican senator and likely presidential candidate taking on IVF, claiming that we’ve never used federal funds to kill people, and making up nonsensical arguments against non-existent proposals.
It’s quite a Republican Senate caucus, isn’t it?