Key stem-cell vote is expected today

WASHINGTON — Congress is poised to give final approval this week to legislation that would broadly expand embryonic stem-cell research, which would mark a turning point in the futuristic struggle between science and religious morality that's divided the Republican Party.

The key Senate vote expected today is more likely to set a political landmark than to dump hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars into research toward cures for Parkinson's disease, diabetes and cancer.

That's because President Bush is expected to kill the bill with his first veto, one Congress apparently lacks the votes to override.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., suggested last week that a veto isn't a foregone conclusion.

"Once it passes the Senate, there will be an outcry from the American people to President Bush," Reid said. He called on "the goodwill of the president to help millions and millions of people who all they have left is hope and a prayer."

But, strategically, Democrats trying to regain control of Congress in fall midterm elections think they could turn a veto by Bush and "no" votes by Republicans to their advantage in House of Representatives and Senate races across the country.

Senators will consider three stem cell bills at once. Two were included to assuage conservative senators opposed to the research: One would prevent embryos from being harvested solely to get stem cells for research — called "fetal farming" — while the other would encourage research alternatives that don't destroy embryos.

The most significant — and most controversial — bill would lift long-standing Bush administration limits on which stem cell lines can be used in federally funded research. Embryos stored at fertility clinics and otherwise slated for destruction could be brought into the mix.

In 2001, Bush limited federal research funding to existing lines of embryonic stem cells, citing moral concerns. He and other opponents, who generally also oppose abortion, say the government must stand firm against research that destroys embryos in the process. They note that the administration's limits don't apply to private- or state-funded research.

Supporters of the legislation counter that the embryos in question are taken from fertility clinics and would be squandered otherwise.

They say that limiting federal funding delays the possibility of finding lifesaving cures for debilitating diseases.