Republicans Push Obama To Reverse Stem Cell Ban
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Barack, Republicans, Senate
They think he’s moving too slow?
I guess bipartisanship is back from the dead.
A group of six moderate House Republicans have written to President Obama urging him to lift President Bush’s ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.“We are writing to respectfully urge that you immediately lift the current federal restrictions on funding for embryonic stem cell research,” they wrote Wednesday, also requesting that the president ask the National Institutes of Health to issue “appropriate guidelines.”
The letter was signed by Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan, Charles Dent of Pennsylvania, Brian Bilbray of California, Michael Castle of Delaware, and Mark Steven Kirk and Judy Biggert of Illinois.
My question: did they urge Bush to overturn it?
A bit more of the letter…
“While we have been encouraged by recent news reports that you plan to issue an Executive Order soon, we cannot stress enough the importance of swift action,” the moderate GOP members of Congress wrote Wednesday. “After the current restrictions are lifted, we stand ready to work with you and our colleagues in Congress on adopting complimentary legislation.”
So it looks like this issue is effectively off the table as a wedge issue if there’s enough Republican support.
More as it develops…
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 and is filed under Barack, Republicans, Senate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 20th, 2009 at 8:26 am
6 moderate republicans have urged Obama to quickly undertake an order to establish policy that will energize the pro-life base. I seriously doubt that party leaders are troubled by this.
Obama ought not in general take prominent actions on divisive issues early in his 1st term, althotuh this one is so predictable that he might as well.
But I’m not sure why you conflate presumed majority support for overturning the embryonic stem cell ban with “it’s no longer a wedge issue.” The strong possibility that the policy on this can swing back and forth like a pendulum depending on which party holds the White House is splendid evidence that the issue is thriving as a wedge issue.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
its obvious that both sides and parties have arguments for and against.
but its not a matter of what stem cell can do or not.
people are too stubborn to admit that stem cell can help plenty of people.
there isnt enough funding on it. people used to question the morals on embryonic stem cell research but they should no more because scientists found a way to create stem cells without destroying embryos.