Johnson to President: Choose Life & Support Stem Cell Research
Johnson to President: Choose Life & Support Stem Cell Research
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Washington, DC--U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) urged the President to reverse his position and support life-giving, life-saving research. President George W. Bush is today set to veto the first bill of his Administration, H.R. 810, The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. This bill overwhelmingly passed both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate with bipartisan votes. Johnson said:
For thousands of South Dakotans battling incurable diseases and struggling with terrible injuries, embryonic stem cell research offers their only real hope for a cure. The choice is clear and the Senate spoke yesterday: we chose research over incineration of the more than 400,000 fertilized cells awaiting destruction in fertility clinics. We chose life over incineration.
Yesterday, the Senate passed this critical piece of legislation by a bipartisan vote, just as the House passed the measure in a strongly bipartisan manner more than 13 months ago. The Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act is now on its way to the President's desk, where it reportedly awaits a veto.
I urge the President to sign, not veto, this bill. I urge him to recognize that the stem cell research policy he established back in August of 2001 must be updated to fund research that could lead to therapies for actual use in humans. And, quite frankly, I urge the President to consider this bill from the perspective of the thousands of South Dakotans living with Parkinson's Disease, Juvenile Diabetes, severe spinal cord injuries, and other diseases, who are desperately waiting for this bill to become law.
I joined many of my Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Senator Frist, urging him to use his leadership position to advance this cause over the President's veto and into law. The Majority Leader should work with Republican leadership in the House and in the Senate to secure the votes necessary to override the President's intended veto.
The Senate passed the legislation yesterday. Johnson is a cosponsor of the Senate companion, S. 471.
The President has indicated he intends to veto the bill, which would then send it back to the Congress. Congress would then have to schedule a vote and would require a 2/3 majority in both the House and the Senate to override a Presidential veto.
http://johnson.senate.gov/~johnson/releases/200607/2006719741.html