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Bush will not meet DeGette to discuss stem cell bill

M.E. Sprengelmeyer, Rocky Mountain News

Published July 12, 2006 at midnight

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WASHINGTON - President Bush has turned down Rep. Diana DeGette's call for a meeting on her bill to expand federally funded embryonic stem cell research.

DeGette, D-Colo., and Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., had requested a White House meeting in hopes of talking Bush out of using his first-ever veto to block legislation they see as the best hope of curing diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's.

But in a letter dated July 7 and received by DeGette on Tuesday, a White House scheduler wrote: "Although the president would appreciate meeting with you, regrettably, we are unable to accommodate your request. Thank you for understanding. The president sends his best wishes."

DeGette was less diplomatic on Tuesday, a day after Karl Rove, the top White House political adviser, reiterated the president's longstanding opposition to the DeGette-Castle bill during a visit to Denver.

"The president doesn't have time to meet with me and Mike Castle, but his political adviser has time to go to my district and announce that the president is going to use his first veto for this bill," DeGette said. "Frankly, I'm appalled."

That veto threat was nothing new. Despite public pressure from backers of stem cell research, including former first lady Nancy Reagan, Bush has stuck by his 2001 order imposing strict limits on the number of embryonic stem cell lines available for federally funded research.

The official White House statement of policy is that the DeGette-Castle bill "relies on unsupported scientific assertions to promote morally troubling and socially controversial research."

Embryonic stem cell research faces fierce opposition from anti-abortion groups that say experimenting on leftover embryos from fertility clinics amounts to the destruction of human life.

DeGette and Castle argue that the available stem cell lines have proved inadequate and sometimes unusable.

They have been pushing for legislation to create new ethical guidelines and then expand research to include surplus embryos that otherwise would be discarded by fertility clinics.

The House of Representatives passed the DeGette-Castle bill more than a year ago, and the Senate could begin a debate on it as early as next week.

Senate backers believe they have enough votes to pass the bill, which is being considered alongside two related measures favored by conservatives.

If Bush follows through with a veto, it could be overturned only if backers can win two-thirds majority votes in both houses of Congress.

"I think an override would be an uphill battle, but I'd undertake that battle," DeGette said.

"I had held out hope the president would realize both the potential of stem cell research and also the ethical controls put in place by the bill."