{"id":5574,"date":"2005-10-19T10:39:45","date_gmt":"2005-10-19T14:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=5574"},"modified":"2005-10-19T10:39:45","modified_gmt":"2005-10-19T14:39:45","slug":"vote-on-stem-cell-research-put-off-until-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/vote-on-stem-cell-research-put-off-until-06\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote on stem-cell research put off until ’06"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last we heard from Congress on the bi-partisan legislation on federally-funded stem-cell research, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had flip-flopped<\/a> his way into taking a firm stand against the White House policy. It was an indication that this popular bill was going to sail through the chamber, possibly with a veto-proof majority.<\/p>\n

Right up until some other developments (namely, two Supreme Court nominations) got in the way. Now, the vote will be postponed until next year<\/a>. Oddly enough, for political purposes, this may not be a terrible thing.<\/p>\n

The Senate wouldn’t vote until next year on a House-passed bill to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research under a deal quietly being suggested by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the stem cell bill insist they want the vote in 2005, as Frist, a supporter of the bill, has promised. But even they acknowledge there may not be time since the rest of this year’s calendar is packed with disaster relief and spending bills, budget talks and Harriet Miers’ Supreme Court nomination.<\/p>\n

“The problem is, when do you get the floor time?” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the stem cell bill’s sponsor who also is overseeing the Miers confirmation hearings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Frist’s guarantee of a floor vote in ’06 may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Yes, it’s frustrating to see this important piece of legislation put off and, for the scientific community, the postponement only delays vital research. But politically, there’s an upside.<\/p>\n

Bush has promised to follow the demands of the religious right and veto this legislation. Considering the bill’s broad bi-partisan support, a veto override isn’t out of the question.<\/p>\n

And that’s where the timing comes in. What’s better, an override vote in 2005, which may be forgotten by election day, or in 2006, when lawmakers in both parties will be anxious to curry favor with voters on a bill with overwhelming national support?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last we heard from Congress on the bi-partisan legislation on federally-funded stem-cell research, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist had flip-flopped his way into taking a firm stand against the White House policy. It was an indication that this popular bill was going to sail through the chamber, possibly with a veto-proof majority. Right up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}