Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Sunday

The Stem Cell Research Decision Will Now Shift to Congress

Aired August 12, 2001 - 17:01   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.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush's top advisers are defending his decision to permit limited research on embryonic stem cells, but the controversial issue is far from resolved. It now shifts to the Congress, that from CNN White House correspondent Kelly Wallace who's traveling with the president in Crawford, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Bush heading off to church near his Texas ranch drew a line in the sand Sunday. In an op-ed in "The New York Times," he wrote: "We do not end some lives for the medical benefit of others. For me, this is a matter of conviction."

The message reiterated by Mr. Bush's top advisers is that the president will not go any further than backing federal funding of research on stem cell already extracted from human embryos.

TOMMY THOMPSON, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: He has indicated that no federal research dollars will be used for the derivation, the destruction of any future embryos, and I think that that is a moral decision that this president has made, and he's not going to cross that.

WALLACE: But Democrats question whether 60 stem cell lines, as the administration suggests, actually exist, and whether those lines will be enough to find cure for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: I think the problem with the president's decision is that he has sort of made a preemptive strike and set down very rigid guidelines in an area where we have many questions that remain to be answered.

WALLACE: There is concern even within the president's own party, with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter pushing a bipartisan bill allowing tax dollars for research on embryos leftover at fertility clinics.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: There are 100,000 of them, and they are going to be discarded, and they have shown just enormous potential.

WALLACE: But on the other side are anti-abortion activists who say they will pressure Mr. Bush if more liberal funding passes Congress.

REP. CHRISTOPHER SMITH (R), NEW JERSEY: He has to be willing to use his veto pen if necessary if Congress were to add some kind of enlargement to this policy. I don't agree with the policy, but it can't go one inch further.

WALLACE: The president's top advisers refuse to say if he would definitely veto any bill calling for expanded research.

(on camera): The wild card is if those cell lines prove to be insufficient. Mr. Bush could face political pressure to open the door to more research and equal pressure to keep it shut.

Kelly Wallace, CNN, Crawford, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com