WASHINGTON — Abandoned by his most prominent Senate ally, President Bush moved closer Friday to a confrontation with fellow Republicans over his opposition to expanded federal backing for embryonic stem cell research, as one of the most explosive moral issues of his presidency reignited in Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) announced that he would support legislation allowing the federal government to finance research using a broader range of embryonic stem cells. His decision substantially raised the odds that the bill would win approval in Congress and face a presidential veto, which White House strategists had hoped to avoid.
Frist's announcement, in a speech Friday in the Senate, exposed deep rifts within the GOP hierarchy that controls the Capitol and the White House. The issue pits social conservatives, who view the research as immoral because human embryos are destroyed in the process, against people who say the research is warranted because it may lead to cures for diseases.
The announcement by Frist, a transplant surgeon who is considered a likely contender for president in 2008, contradicted recent signals that he would oppose the legislation, and word of his decision Thursday night caught his Senate colleagues and the White House by surprise. It also was an unambiguous sign that politics had tilted in favor of research advocates and against Bush and the social conservatives who are the core of his political base.
In his speech, Frist broke from conservatives who say the potential of the research is overstated. "Cure today may be just a theory, a hope, a dream," he said. "But the promise is powerful enough that I believe this research deserves our increased energy and focus."
Stem cells from human embryos have drawn interest because many scientists believe they might one day be fashioned into brain cells for Parkinson's disease patients, insulin-producing cells for diabetics, and other replacements for cells and tissues that go awry in disease.
Under rules set by Bush, the federal government only finances research on cells drawn from human embryos before he announced the policy on Aug. 9, 2001. Bush said his goal was to allow the research to move forward without using taxpayer money to cause additional embryos to be destroyed. The rules do not prohibit privately funded research on new stem cell groups.
