Hatch says Senate could split with Bush on stem cells :clap:
July 5, 2004
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican supporter of embryonic stem cell research, said Sunday there is wide support in the Senate to ease the Bush administration's restrictive policy.
Hatch said supporters have more than the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster, but he's unsure whether Congress would act ''in this hot political atmosphere.''
The Utah senator predicted on CNN's ''Late Edition'' that the administration and research supporters would reach a compromise that would include ethical standards set by the National Institutes of Health.
''That has to be done, or we're going to have a mess on our hands all over the world,'' Hatch said.
He predicted countries around the world would follow NIH standards, including a ban on cloning.
Hatch was among 58 senators this month who signed a letter to Bush asking him to relax restrictions on federal financing of the research.
''I personally believe that in the end the president and those who are in the administration will see that,'' Hatch said.
Bush signed an executive order in August 2001 that limited federal help to financing stem cell research on 78 embryonic stem cell lines then in existence. AP
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-hatch05.html