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American Morning

President Bush Remains Under the Microscope

Aired August 13, 2001 - 10:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is out of the Beltway, but he's still under the microscope for last week's announcement that he supports partial funding for embryonic stem cell research. As a new week gets under way, both liberals and conservatives are looking for clarification and administration officials say that they will get it.

For more on that, let's check in with our White House correspondent Kelly Wallace, who's standing by in Crawford, Texas. That happens to be where the president is vacationing -- hi, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Leon.

Well, you could say President Bush and his top advisers tried to clear up any questions over the weekend about what the president will and what he won't support. Now, Mr. Bush is actually at this very hour on the golf course. He was joking with reporters a bit earlier today about his golf swing and at that time reporters weren't able to get close enough to ask him about criticism of his stem cell decision. But Mr. Bush seemed to be responding to some criticism, particularly coming from some anti-abortion rights activists in this op-ed, which he wrote and which appeared in yesterday's "New York Times" when he said, "We do not end some lives for the medical benefit of others. For me, this is a matter of conviction, a belief that life, including early life, is biologically human, genetically distinct and valuable."

The president, and again, his top aides making clear over the weekend that the president will only support research or federal funding of research using those stem cells that have already been extracted from human embryos despite any developments that scientists might come across.

Well, some Democrats and even some Republicans question whether the president's plan is too limited. They also question whether the 60 existing stem cell lines the administration claims exist will give scientists enough information to find cures to various diseases.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: Well, I'm very skeptical that the cell lines would be sufficient. This is something that our appropriations subcommittee has already gone into in great depth. But I think in light of what the president has had to say, we ought to go further and look at it even more closely. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: And, in fact, Senator Specter plans to look at this more closely and push a bipartisanship bill this fall that would call for federal funding of research using the 100,000 human embryos that are left over at fertility clinics and that would otherwise be discarded. So, Leon, you could definitely say that the president's decision not the last word on this issue -- Leon.

HARRIS: Kelly, are you hearing whether or not there's some concern there or surprise at least on behalf of the president on the outcry that we've seen and heard so far? This has actually stirred up quite a bit.

WALLACE: Yes, although they seem pretty pleased, though, Leon, I might add. One senior administration official using the words, "We may have sort of threaded the needle here." They knew that they could not please all sides, that there would be those who think that the administration is going too far, those thinking the White House not going far enough.

But for the most part they are pleased. They look at some conservatives, some anti-abortion rights groups such as the National Right To Life Committee, saying they delighted. Reverend Jerry Falwell, praising the president's decision, and even some Democrats offering the president some praise, even while they still want to push for broader embryonic stem cell research.

So overall they feel quite pleased and think that the president is getting credit for thinking this through and for doing what he believed was the right thing to do in the end.

HARRIS: Kelly Wallace in Crawford, Texas, thanks much. We'll talk with you later on.

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