Proponents of undoing Bush’s restrictive stem-cell policy have been extremely successful of late, so much so that its 186 co-sponsors in the House and 58 co-sponsors in the Senate, coupled by a Hastert promise of a floor vote, point to almost inevitable passage sometime in the next few months.
The GOP’s far-right base seems to have been caught flat-footed on this one — and they’re beginning to panic a bit.
House conservatives, upset that Republican leaders have agreed to a vote on expanding President Bush’s embryonic stem-cell research policy, are deciding how they will fight back.
“The pro-life, pro-family base is very, very concerned about this,” said Rep. Joe Pitts, Pennsylvania Republican. “Some of them are upset. … We are actively engaged in this now and will be developing a strategy.”
At this point, Delaware’s Michael Castle (R) has the bill with the most support (enough to pass with bi-partisan backing), in part because it would allow researchers to use embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics that otherwise would be discarded and not permit embryos to be created specifically for the purpose of medical research.
Apparently, the idea on the right is to get Castle to scale back his proposal, or find a watered down bill to replace it. What I can’t see is how or why that would work. Castle already has the votes to get his bill passed, so why negotiate with the far-right fringe at all?
The trump card seems to be a dependence on party loyalty to Bush.
“What I don’t understand is why they’re allowing this to come to the floor when it goes against the president of their own party,” one House Republican aide said. “It’s going to put [Bush] in a tough spot. Is this going to be the first thing he vetoes?”
That tack may have held more resonance before Bush was a lame duck, before Tom DeLay’s corruption brought the GOP’s majority into question, and before the president’s approval rating slipped to the mid-40s.