President Bush today vetoed a bill that would have greatly expanded federally sponsored research on embryonic stem cells. The Senate had approved the bill, HR 810, by a vote of 63 to 37 on Tuesday, with 19 Republicans, including the majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, joining 43 Democrats and one Independent in voting to pass the measure (The Chronicle, July 19).
After more than 1,000 bills signed, it was the first veto of Mr. Bush’s presidency.
Although the bill’s sponsors in both chambers of Congress are likely to try to override the veto, there seems little chance that either one will reach the two-thirds majority needed to succeed .
While vetoing that bill, Mr. Bush did, however, sign into law S 3504, which bans the creation of human fetuses or embryos for the purpose of conducting research on them.
