URGENT,....DO IT TODAY!! Tell Senate to Support Stem Cell Research with one CLICK!!!

[Faye]

Tell the Senate to Support Stem Cell Research
Contributed by Working Assets


S.471 -- the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005 -- was passed by the House of Representatives last year as H.R.810, and then introduced into the Senate by Senator Specter. After a long delay, Majority Leader Frist has agreed to allow a full Senate vote on the bill sometime in the coming week. However, under a special agreement, the bill will require 60 votes to pass -- so your action is needed right away.

Embryonic stem cell research holds enormous promise in the search for cures for ailments that afflict millions of Americans, including spinal cord injuries, diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Regrettably, a small group of religious conservatives and anti-choice extremists have (so far) managed to hold this potentially life-saving scientific research hostage to their narrow views.

In 2001, President Bush announced a policy that banned federal funding of research on all embryonic stem cell lines, excepting only a handful that had been created before that announcement. However, scientists have found that most of those cell cultures are unviable or contaminated, making them unusable for research.

Last May, the House of Representatives stood up to the White House and passed a bill that will allow for federal support of research on stem cell lines taken from surplus embryos created at fertilization clinics -- embryos that would otherwise be discarded. Now, Majority Leader Bill Frist has finally let this bill out of committee for a full vote in the Senate.

Numerous countries around the world are already supporting stem cell research, achieving landmark advances, and getting farther and farther ahead of the United States. If we want to maintain our role as a global leader in scientific progress -- and offer hope to those suffering from debilitating ailments that could benefit from this research -- our policies on funding stem cell research must change.


Call to action
Urge your senators to vote yes on S.471, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.

Deadline: ongoing

Please click here to send a form letter:

http://www.workingforchange.com/acti...m?itemid=19333

[Faye]

BUMP.

IT is NOW OR NEVER.

The Senate VOTE IS MONDAY!!!

[Saorsa]

Sent my letters two days ago

[dan_nc]

As did I, and phone calls as well.

Remember, if you call, please leave your full name and address to be counted.

~dan

[Steven Edwards]

I just sent a three page letter, with a bibliography, to the legislative aides.

Yes, I know. am I.

[cubsfandc]

Looks like the vote will be on Tuesday.

CQ TODAY
July 12, 2006 – 8:45 p.m.
Stem Cell Deal Likely Sets Up Bush’s First Veto
By Elizabeth B. Crowley, CQ Staff
The Senate will begin debating three stem cell research bills July 17 and vote on them the following day, setting up what is almost certain to be the first veto of President Bush’s tenure.

Bush has pledged to veto one of the measures, a House bill (HR 810) that would allow federal funding for research on stem cells taken from surplus embryos at in vitro fertilization clinics.

After a year of negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., struck a deal at the end of June to consider the three bills. Under the agreement, no amendments will be considered and 60 votes will be necessary for passage.

The agreement satisfies the desires of lawmakers up for re-election who hope to win favor with a public that has shown broad support for embryonic stem cell research.

Conservatives get votes on two bills they support, and still don’t have to worry about the one they oppose becoming law.

The House passed its embryonic stem cell bill in May 2005, so Senate passage would send the measure to the White House.

And although Senate supporters are confident they have the votes to clear the bill, they make no such claims about overriding a Bush veto, something that would require 67 votes. The House vote on the bill was 238-194, far short of the two-thirds that would be necessary to override a veto.

Democrats have pressed Frist to schedule a floor debate on stem cells since he broke with Bush on the issue and threw his support behind legislation to allow federal funding of more extensive embryonic stem cell research than is currently permitted.

His announcement on July 29, 2005, dismayed party conservatives who object to research on discarded embryos from fertility clinics, equating it with abortion.

When he announced his support for the House bill, Frist outlined several changes he said he would like to see and said, “These shortcomings merit a thoughtful and thorough rewrite of the bill.But the deal he made to bring the bill to the floor will not permit any changes to be made.

Many moderate Republicans up for re-election are eager to vote for research that polls show has broad public support, even among GOP voters. Fifty Republicans voted for the House bill last year.

An executive order issued by Bush on Aug. 21, 2001, allows federally funded research only on stem cell lines that existed before that date.

The National Institutes of Health estimates that 22 such lines are viable for research, but they are contaminated and probably would not be usable for medical treatments.

Most of next week’s Senate debate will focus on the House-passed measure, but a second measure (S 2754) — cosponsored by Pennsylvania Republicans Rick Santorum, an anti-abortion conservative, and Arlen Specter, an abortion rights supporter — would encourage research into ways to obtain stem cells that have the same properties as embryonic stem cells without destroying the embryos.

That bill would require the National Institutes of Health to research and develop ways to derive pluripotent stem cells, which have the ability to morph into almost any type of cell in the body, without destroying an embryo.

The President’s Council on Bioethics issued a paper last year laying out four potential procedures, but critics say perfecting such methods will take years.

The third bill (S 3504), by Santorum and Kansas Republican Sam Brownback, would make it illegal to perform research on embryos from “fetal farms,” where human embryos could be gestated in a non-human uterus, or from human pregnancies created specifically for the purpose of research. Brownback has been a vocal opponent of embryonic stem cell research.

All three bills are expected to pass, and two will probably become law.

“I expect he’ll sign my two and veto the other,” Santorum said of Bush.

The House could take up the Santorum-Specter and Santorum-Brownback bills in the next few weeks, said Elizabeth Wenk, an aide to Michael N. Castle, R-Del., sponsor of the House stem cell bill.

Electoral Momentum?
Democrats say a Bush veto would be bad politics on an issue they believe is a winner for them this election year.

“It’s an issue for middle-income and upper-income moderate Republicans,” said Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “This often shifts them.”

Scientists say embryonic stem cells, which can turn into almost any type of cell in the body, have the potential to offer cures for illnesses such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, some cancers and possibly Alzheimer’s.

Support for the research also has been bolstered by former first lady Nancy Reagan, whose backing has raised the issue’s profile.

Schumer pointed to the close Missouri Senate race in which conservative Republican Jim Talent is fighting for re-election against state Auditor Claire McCaskill. A separate stem cell referendum on the November ballot has put the issue at the forefront of Missouri voters’ minds.

Democrats in the state, Schumer said, are “already using it to tremendous effect.”

But a senior GOP leadership aide Wednesday predicted that the issue will not have staying power for Democrats.

“It will be like a summer romance,” the aide said. “Pretty soon, it will be all over and they will move on to the next hunk down the beach.”

Gregory L. Giroux, Daphne Retter and Martha Angle contributed to this story.

Source: CQ Today
Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill.
© 2006 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[ginamarie]

Sent my letters today!

[alan]

A Bush veto would be good news for Democrats come election time.

[cubsfandc]

Originally Posted by alan

A Bush veto would be good news for Democrats come election time.

I don't like the idea of an issue this important to the lives of so many people being good for one political party or another. BUT, if Bush does veto this and it hurts Republicans in the election this fall the chances that Republicans find a way to get something done next year goes up, even if it means more Republicans willing to override a veto to save themselves politically. Nothing focuses a politicians attention more than the realization that a particular issue could result in their defeat.

[litespeed4]

Done