WASHINTON, November 2, 2001 (LSN.ca) – Pro-embryo research Republican Senator Arlen Specter, who outraged pro-lifers by attaching measures contrary to President Bush's stand against research on human embryos to a massive spending bill, was forced to withdraw the provision. Spector's provision, inserted by the Democratic-controlled Senate Appropriations Committee, would have allowed experimentation on live human embryos that would otherwise be destroyed, if permission were granted by the people whose fertility treatments created the embryos.
Pro-life Republican Senator Sam Brownback threatened to delay the $123.1 billion measure funding federal education, labor and health programs by debating stem cell research and offering amendments banning human cloning. AP reports the Senators agreed to withdraw their issues until the Senate had time to hold extensive debate, probably early next year. The White House had recommended a veto if the stem cell language remained in the bill.