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Frist: Senate to consider stem cell bill in July
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSWASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist introduced a bill Thursday to expand funding for embryonic stem cell research and said it would be debated and voted on in July. The bill has been stalled since May 2005 after passing the House. Two other less controversial stem cell-related bills will be considered at the same time, said Frist, a Republican from Tennessee. Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the news of the scheduling of the bill "will bring peace and comfort" to former first lady Nancy Reagan and other advocates of stem cell research. Her husband, former President Ronald Reagan, died in 2004 of Alzheimer's disease, one of many maladies affecting millions of people that some scientists believe could be relieved or even cured through embryonic stem cell research. Two others are diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Mrs. Reagan has lobbied Frist in recent days to schedule the bill, his office said. Frist, a heart transplant surgeon, shocked many Republicans last year when he announced his support for stem cell research, promising a vote on the bill before the current session of Congress ends this year. At least one conservative Republican senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, had threatened to block the bill from floor consideration but relented after extensive negotiations with Frist. Under the agreement worked out with Coburn, who also is a physician, the bill will need 60 votes to be adopted. Aides said it is expected to be a tight vote. But The Associated Press, quoting anonymous sources, reported late Thursday that at least one other, unnamed, senator was threatening to block the package of bills. Even if the bill does pass, President Bush has threatened to veto it, contending as do many social conservatives that the process of extracting stem cells is the equivalent of abortion because it kills the embryo. Reuters reported that two staunch anti-abortion Republican senators, Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, said they will not hold up a vote on the three-bill package, although both said they would vote against it. One of the other bills in the package, Reuters reported, would ban "fetal farming," or implanting embryos into women so cells can be harvested. The third bill would promote ways to extract stem cells without killing the embryo, Reuters reported. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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