Thursday, April 12, 2007 | 7:27 a.m.
WASHINGTON - As President Bush again readies his veto pen over stem cell research, Republican Sen. John Ensign may be the only Nevada member of Congress standing by his side.
Nevada's congressional delegation usually divides along party lines in polarized Washington. But on this issue, they stand mostly in agreement with a majority of Americans, who polls show believe that the president has been wrong to limit embryonic stem cell research.
Republican Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller bucked the White House this year to join Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley in helping pass a stem cell research bill in the House as part of the Democrats' agenda. Experts say such research could lead to new treatments for devastating conditions such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's that touch millions of Americans.
Porter has long opposed the president's limits on stem cell research. He joined Berkley last year in the House's failed attempt to override Bush's veto of similar legislation. Porter plans to vote against the president again this year.
"I spent a lot of time with the kids at the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in Nevada," Porter said. "Seeing first hand some of the challenges these kids have for a lifetime, I think it's the right thing to do." Porter made the comments in Henderson, where he is while the House remains on Easter recess.
Porter's support of stem cell research as an abortion opponent is a tricky balance - one also attempted by fellow Nevadan Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader of the Senate.
Their views are not lost on Nevada's anti-abortion activists , who were closely watching the votes.
Don Nelson, president of Nevada Life, said his group was disappointed with the Nevada lawmakers' positions - except for Ensign.
"I think the Republicans in Nevada need to be helpful on pro-life issues," Nelson said. "Except for Sen. Ensign, what do social conservatives get from the Republicans? I can't tell any difference."
The bill, reintroduced in the Democrat-controlled Congress, would greatly expand how federal funds can be used for embryonic stem cell research. The bill would essentially overturn a 2001 Bush ban that limited funding to a few dozen cell lines.
The House passed the bill this year, and the Senate did so Wednesday. Democrats broadened the Senate bill to include nonembryonic research in hope of winning more support.
Ensign, however, has opposed past versions of the bill, and did so again Wednesday. His spokesman declined to comment on how he would vote if faced with a veto override.
Ensign supported a rival Republican-backed bill that would allow federally funded research only on "dead" embryos that Bush has said he would sign into law. That bill also passed Wednesday.
Even with polls showing more than two-thirds of Americans backing stem cell research, both houses fell short of the votes needed to override a Bush veto.
Jennifer Mullin, a spokeswoman for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who is managing the bill for the Democrats, remained optimistic the 67 votes for a Senate override were within reach.
Reid's office, however, was subdued. If Bush doesn't have a change of heart, "overriding a veto will be an uphill battle," Reid spokesman Jon Summers said.
Heller was not in Congress last year for Bush's veto. But he said this week that he would vote to override the president because this is "an issue that touches every family I want to be part of the solution."
As abortion opponents, Reid and Porter argue their support of stem cell research virtually the same way : Both say the embryos would be destroyed anyway.
Proponents of embryonic stem cell research estimate there are 400,000 unwanted embryos in fertility clinics nationwide, but anti-abortion groups say those could become "snowflake babies" - abandoned embryos that other women carry to delivery.
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