Shooting for Stem Cell Victory

Time Magazine (yes... that Time Magazine) has a report on some possible good news for doctors and scientists... a rare event during the Bushreich. It appears that as many as fifty moderate Republicans in the house are ready to sign on with House Democrats to approve a bill which will open up many new lines of embryonic stem cells from thousands of ebryos created via in vitro fertilization.

My initial reaction was to think that Bush would veto such legislation, assuming it ever made it past the Senate. (The Senate currently has 58 co-sponsors for a similar bill, so passage looks very likely.) However, even Bush has figured out by now that the majority of the existing, funded stem cell lines are corrupted with mouse DNA and have been deemed unsuitable for human use.

Sounds ideal... but wait. There's always the potential for a fly in the ointment. And who might that fly be? Well, surprise, surprise... none other than the bug man himself.

Officially, the House Republican leadership has pledged not to pressure its members on the bill, having deemed it a matter of conscience. But majority leader Tom DeLay had been quietly looking for ways to stall it or complicate its progress through the legislative machinery. House sources say he stepped back from that effort after moderate Republicans reminded Speaker Hastert that he had promised them a clean shot at passage.

You can always count on da Hammer when you need somebody to impede the pesky march of progress in the scientific fields. Fortunately, at least on this one, it looks like good ole' Tom will be saving his political capital for his ethics battles to come and may let this one pass by. That's not going to save you though, Tom. We're not done with your ass yet by a long shot.