As expected, the House has just passed a bill to overturn President Bush’s funding policy. The vote was 247-176, well short of the two-thirds needed to override a Presidential veto. The House passed essentially the same bill in January by 253-174. I haven’t seen the full roll-call yet, but it’s safe to assume the slight shift against the bill is accounted for mostly by different members being absent this time than last. It will be interesting to see if anyone changed their vote in light of recent news. The Senate passed this bill in April by 63-34, which puts it one vote short of two-thirds.
The bill now goes to the President, who has pledged to veto it, presumably when he returns from Europe next week.
Meanwhile, today’s newspapers give us reason to hope we may get beyond this debate with time, and see stem cell science advance without the destruction of embryos.