President Bush Threatens to Veto Stem Cell Bill

I pray it never reaches his desk, but I am thankful that the bill will stop there if it does. What is encouraging is to see alternate source legislation get promoted, such as the use of umbilical cord blood.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Friday said he would veto legislation that would loosen restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and expressed deep concern about human cloning research in South Korea. ...

A measure by Reps. Mike Castle, R-Del., and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., would lift Bush's 2001 ban on the use of federal dollars for research using any new embryonic stem cell lines.

''I made very clear to Congress that the use of federal money, taxpayer's money, to promote science which destroys life in order to save life - I'm against that,'' Bush said. ''Therefore, if the bill does that, I would veto it.''

But Duffy said the administration looked favorably at a bill to encourage stem cell research that uses blood from umbilical cords. That measure is being pushed by House Republican leaders as an alternate to the Castle-DeGette bill. Duffy stopped short of endorsing the alternate legislation but said it has promise. (emphasis added)