Democratic congressional leaders have decided that the Senate will pass its own embryonic stem cell research bill rather than consider the House-passed version, according to aides.

Meanwhile, a senior Democratic senator, Tom Harkin of Iowa, has vowed that if President Bush again vetoes a stem cell research bill, he will try to attach it to any “must do” legislation available.

“The president has to understand this is not going to go away,” Harkin said after a hearing on the issue Jan. 19.

The House passed an embryonic stem cell bill (HR 3) on Jan. 11 that is identical to both a measure Bush vetoed last summer and to a bill (S 5) introduced in the Senate. While the originating chamber of the bill that eventually gets to Bush’s desk seems a small matter, supporters of the legislation believe it could have political ramifications down the road.

The strategy, confirmed by Senate and House Democratic aides and Harkin on Jan. 19, anticipates that Bush will eventually veto either bill. So the plan envisions the Senate — where support for embryonic stem cell research is stronger — voting first, successfully, to override Bush’s veto.

But rather than the Senate simply clearing the House bill again, Democratic leaders want the chamber to pass its own. The Senate bill then would go back to the House, which would either clear it and send it to Bush or substitute the text of its own bill — requiring a conference committee to work out the differences.

Regardless, a Bush veto would return the bill to the Senate first for an override vote because of the measure’s Senate designation. The House did not have enough votes last July to override Bush’s veto of its embryonic stem cell bill. A veto override requires a two-thirds majority of those voting in each chamber.

“It makes a very powerful statement that the Senate overrides his second veto,” a House Democratic aide said. “It sort of puts the wind in our sails and we should pick up, with that override, more votes for our override.”

Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Senate proponents expect to defeat any amendments offered to the bill. If that happens, no conference committee would be needed.

But even if the Senate votes first on an override, the House is expected to again sustain a veto. At that point, Democrats say they will use any means to force Bush to sign the legislation.

“If he vetoes it and we don’t have the votes to override the veto, we will look for every way possible to attach it to some must-do legislation this year,” Harkin said.

Timing for Senate debate is uncertain. Manley said the Senate will not consider a stem cell bill this week.

The first bill Congress is expected to take up that is considered must-pass will likely be a continuing resolution, or CR, to fund the federal government for the rest of fiscal 2007. The current spending resolution expires Feb. 15.

Harkin said Congress will probably pass the funding measure before Bush vetoes an embryonic research bill, which he has promised to do again, and an override attempt fails. Otherwise, Harkin said: “You bet I’d attach it to the CR.”

Harkin chairs the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. In that capacity, he has the opportunity to attach the stem cell bill to any spending legislation.

Last summer, the Senate cleared a House embryonic research bill and sent it to Bush, who used the only veto of his presidency to kill it. The House override vote fell short by 51 votes. Because the override attempt failed in the House, the Senate did not get a vote.

The House passed its identical bill, 253-174, well short of the two-thirds necessary to override a veto — 290 are needed if all members vote. It would lift restrictions on federal funding for embryonic research that Bush issued Aug. 9, 2001. Under his order, funding is limited to embryonic stem cell lines created before that date.

With the policy, Bush sought to strike a middle ground between religious conservatives, who liken the research to abortion, and the bulk of the nation’s scientists and doctors, who believe the cells could eventually lead to cures for many afflictions.

Scientists say the policy has hamstrung research in the field. And Democrats effectively made a political issue of Bush’s order; the debate is thought to have contributed to the defeat of some Republicans in the 2006 midterm elections.

Under the House bill, federal funding would be authorized for stem cells derived from any embryos donated by in vitro fertilization clinics, as long as the embryos would otherwise be discarded and were not created for scientific purposes.

First posted Jan. 19, 2007 11:27 a.m.