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HOUSE LEADERSHIP SELLOUT [Ramesh Ponnuru]
Rick Weiss reports in WaPo that the House leadership has promised Rep. Mike Castle (R., Del.) a vote on his bill to expand taxpayer funding of embryo-destructive research. Based on the story, it looks as though the leaders didn’t even consult with pro-lifers first.
Bush has pledged to veto any funding expansion, but for the House to go on record for it would be demoralizing for pro-lifers and potentially politically costly for the president. (It would be likely to be his first veto.) Pro-lifers’ strategy should be to keep the House from passing it, certainly as a stand-alone proposal. It is very likely that there is majority support for Castle’s bill in the House, so that’s going to be difficult–but not impossible. The thing to do now, it seems to me, is to attach popular pro-life amendments to the bill. A majority of the House–not including Castle and his co-sponsor Diana DeGette (D., Colo.)–has gone on record against all forms of human cloning. Put that on the bill, and see if Castle and company are still eager to pass it. Another amendment would be to set an age limit on the human embryos that can be used in research, public or private.
And pounding the House leadership a little wouldn’t hurt, either.
THE SCHIAVO CONNECTION [Ramesh Ponnuru]
When party leaders have a view of reality that is at odds with that of their base, they’ve got a looming political problem. I suspect that Hill Republicans think that they have just gone the extra mile for pro-lifers with the Schiavo bill and therefore should be cut a little slack on stem cells. Most motivated pro-life voters, on the other hand, are going to be coming at this with a totally different mindset: By their lights, the Republicans waited until the last minute to act in the Schiavo case–and then failed. They are not going to be happy with Republicans who are deliberately and freely choosing to highlight an issue where the politics are difficult for pro-lifers right after they have had a bitter defeat.
Posted at 10:12 AM
Rick Weiss reports in WaPo that the House leadership has promised Rep. Mike Castle (R., Del.) a vote on his bill to expand taxpayer funding of embryo-destructive research. Based on the story, it looks as though the leaders didn’t even consult with pro-lifers first.
Bush has pledged to veto any funding expansion, but for the House to go on record for it would be demoralizing for pro-lifers and potentially politically costly for the president. (It would be likely to be his first veto.) Pro-lifers’ strategy should be to keep the House from passing it, certainly as a stand-alone proposal. It is very likely that there is majority support for Castle’s bill in the House, so that’s going to be difficult–but not impossible. The thing to do now, it seems to me, is to attach popular pro-life amendments to the bill. A majority of the House–not including Castle and his co-sponsor Diana DeGette (D., Colo.)–has gone on record against all forms of human cloning. Put that on the bill, and see if Castle and company are still eager to pass it. Another amendment would be to set an age limit on the human embryos that can be used in research, public or private.
And pounding the House leadership a little wouldn’t hurt, either.
THE SCHIAVO CONNECTION [Ramesh Ponnuru]
When party leaders have a view of reality that is at odds with that of their base, they’ve got a looming political problem. I suspect that Hill Republicans think that they have just gone the extra mile for pro-lifers with the Schiavo bill and therefore should be cut a little slack on stem cells. Most motivated pro-life voters, on the other hand, are going to be coming at this with a totally different mindset: By their lights, the Republicans waited until the last minute to act in the Schiavo case–and then failed. They are not going to be happy with Republicans who are deliberately and freely choosing to highlight an issue where the politics are difficult for pro-lifers right after they have had a bitter defeat.
Posted at 10:12 AM