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NRL News
Fight
over veto is near:
WASHINGTON (March 29, 2007)—During the second half of April, the leaders of the congressional Democratic majorities in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House intend to force a showdown with President Bush over legislation that would mandate federal funding for the kind of stem cell research that would require the killing of human embryos. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) will bring the legislation to the Senate floor on April 10. Reid is the chief sponsor of the Senate version (S. 5) of the bill that would overturn a policy adopted by President Bush in 2001, which prohibits federal funding of stem cell research that requires harming human embryos. The Reid bill would mandate federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos in order to harvest their stem cells. The embryos would be those authorized by the parents to be “donated from in vitro fertilization clinics, [and that] were created for the purposes of fertility treatment.” The Senate has agreed to spend 20 hours debating the issues surrounding stem cell research. The House already passed a very similar bill (H.R. 3) on January 11, by a vote of 253–174. In a statement sent to the House on the day of the vote, the White House said, “The bill would compel all American taxpayers to pay for research that relies on the intentional destruction of human embryos for the derivation of stem cells, overturning the President’s policy that funds research without promoting such ongoing destruction. If H.R. 3 were presented to the President, he would veto the bill.” (The entire White House policy statement is posted here: http://www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/SAPHR3.html.) While the margin of passage in the House was 18 votes greater than the same legislation had garnered in 2006—due almost entirely to support from most of the newly elected Democrats—it was still 32 votes short of the two-thirds margin that would be required to override a veto. (The House roll call on H.R. 3 was published in the February issue of NRL News, pages 22–23. It is also included in NRLC’s scorecard of key pro-life House votes of the current Congress, available at the Legislative Action Center at the NRLC website, www.nrlc.org or www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/.) NRLC and other pro-life groups strongly oppose the Reid bill, but the Senate is expected to pass it by a substantial margin. It remains unclear, however, whether it will pass by more than the two-thirds majority that will be required to override the President’s veto. Because the Senate bill will differ in minor details from the bill passed by the House, the House also must vote on the Senate’s version before the legislation can be sent to the President. After the President vetoes the bill, it will be returned to the Senate for a vote on whether to override the veto. If fewer than two-thirds of the senators vote to override the veto, the bill will be dead. If more than two-thirds of the senators vote to override the veto, the bill then goes back to the House, which would also vote on whether to override. The bill will only be enacted into law if both houses vote, by two-thirds margins, to override the veto. The Senate is also expected to vote on a second bill, sponsored by Senators Norm Coleman (R-Mn.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), that would encourage federal funding for research into new ways to obtain different kinds of stem cells suitable for research, without harming human embryos. The Coleman-Isakson bill (S. 30) is titled the “Hope Offered through Principled and Ethical Stem Cell Research Act,” or “HOPE Act.” While the final language of the “HOPE Act” was not yet available at NRL News deadline, it appears that the bill will contain nothing to which NRLC would object. For further updates on congressional developments on these issues, frequently visit the NRLC website’s Legislative Action Center. ACTION REQUEST Your help is needed! As explained in the story above, during the second half of April, both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives are expected to vote on legislation that would mandate federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos. President Bush has vowed that he will veto this bill. Please IMMEDIATELY communicate with your two U.S. senators and with your representative in the U.S. House, urging them to oppose S. 5, a bill that would provide federal funding for research that requires the killing of human embryos. Urge them to support President Bush’s forthcoming veto. There are several ways that you can communicate with those who represent you in Congress: (1) On the Internet, you can go to the Legislative Action Center at the NRLC website (www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/). You will be shown model messages in opposition to this legislation, which you can modify as you wish. (2) You can telephone any congressional office through the Capitol Switchboard, 202-225-3121 or 202-224-3121. If you don’t know the names of those who represent you, just give the Capitol Switchboard operator your zip code and you will be connected with the correct offices. Politely tell the congressional staffpersons that you are a constituent and that you are urging the lawmaker to vote against S. 5 or any other bill that would fund research that requires killing or harming human embryos. (3) You can fax letters to your two senators and to your representative. At the Legislative Action Center, click on the tab labeled “Elected Officials” to find specific fax numbers, local office numbers, and other contact information for your representative and senators. NOTE: Do not rely on U.S. mail to communicate with your federal representatives, because security policies on Capitol Hill result in long delays in the delivery and counting of U.S. mail. NOTE: Please keep NRLC in the loop! It will greatly assist NRLC’s lobbying efforts if you send NRLC a copy of any response you receive from a lawmaker on the issue of human embryo research, or any other pro-life issue. You can send such copies either (1) by e-mail, to Legfederal@aol.com, or (2) by fax to 202-347-3668, or (3) by U.S. mail, to NRLC, Federal Legislation Dept., 512-10th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004. Thank you! Additional Resources To view additional information on this legislation, including NRLC’s January 5 letter to U.S. House members opposing H.R. 3, visit the NRLC website at: http://www.nrlc.org/killing_embryos/index.html. For additional information on human embryo research and human cloning, visit www.stemcellresearch.org. SIDEBAR Human Cloning: True Ban and Phony Ban Introduced in Senate Senators Sam Brownback (R-Ks.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.), along with 26 other senators, on March 29 reintroduced legislation that would prohibit the use of cloning to create human embryos anywhere in the United States. The bill, S. 1036, is strongly supported by NRLC. It has been introduced in every Congress since 2001. The House passed nearly identical legislation (the Weldon-Stupak bill) in 2001 and 2003, but in the Senate pro-cloning forces have been sufficiently strong to prevent approval of the bill. Supporters of using cloning to create human embryos, for use in research that will kill the embryos, have rallied behind an alternative bill, S. 812, sponsored by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.). Pro-life critics refer to the Hatch-Feinstein bill as “the clone-and-kill bill” or “the phony cloning ban,” because it is titled a “prohibition on human cloning,” but in reality would encourage the creation of human clones for research. For more information on the Hatch-Feinstein bill, see “Cloning Doubletalk” by Wesley Smith, on page 17 of this issue of NRL News. To send messages to your senators in support of S. 1036 and against S. 812, and to see lists of cosponsors for each bill, visit the Legislative Action Center at the NRLC website, at http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/. |