From The Morning GrindPresident Bush repeated Monday his threat to strike down a bill that would allow for federally funded embryonic stem cell research, as the Senate prepared to approve the legislation (
H.R. 810) this afternoon. The House had approved the controversial measure last year.
Two other stem cell bills (
S.2754 and
S.3504) are also expected to be passed by the Senate when votes on all three measures occur at 3:45 p.m. ET. The two latter bills would promote the use of "embryonic like" pluripotent stem cells as well as outlaw the creation of fetuses for research purposes.
CNN's Dana Bash reports that Republicans are telling her the House could approve these two less controversial stem cell bills tonight, giving Bush the opportunity to sign them into law at the same time he vetoes the more controversial measure as early as Wednesday.
In addition to possibly voting on the two stem cell measures, the House will also vote on a constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage. While a majority of lawmakers will vote in favor of the legislation (
H.J.Res. 88), it is expected to fall short of the two-thirds majority needed to enact a constitutional amendment. Today's vote is part of the House GOP's "American Values Agenda" that Republicans hope will energize its political base heading into the November elections.
"Republicans believe the American people, should decide this issue, not out-of-touch judges who are bent on redefining what constitutes marriage," House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement released by his office.
This is the first time the House has addressed this issue since 1994. An attempt to pass a similar measure in the Senate failed last month.
