How Bush Got There

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The next weekend, when both men were attending the G.O.P.'s Midwest Leadership Conference, Ramstad informed Rove that a letter would soon be delivered to the White House with the signatures of 202 Congressmen backing the research. Forty were Republicans. "And I have 15 other Republicans," Ramstad warned, "who have committed to us but who didn't want to go public with their support."

Pressure also came from stem-cell opponents on the Hill. In early July House majority leader Dick Armey, majority whip Tom DeLay and Republican Conference chairman J.C. Watts had issued a joint statement demanding that Bush prohibit funding. "It is not pro-life to rely on an industry of death," they argued, "even if the intention is to find cures for diseases." House Speaker Dennis Hastert, though he opposes stem-cell research, refused to join his three top lieutenants in the statement.

For all his consultation on the subject, Bush did not talk much with members of Congress. Even Senator Frist did not have an in-depth talk with Bush after Frist floated his own compromise. "He was searching more for moral authority than political counsel," says Senator Sam Brownback, the Kansas Republican who opposes funding.

The speech Bush ultimately gave last week was written by Hughes, who has a gift for conveying complex issues in kitchen-table language. She rehearsed it with him Wednesday. Until the final hours before he delivered it, just a handful of people knew what he would say--Vice President Dick Cheney, Rove, Hughes, chief of staff Andrew Card, White House communications aide Dan Bartlett and legal adviser Jay Lefkowitz. Half an hour before airtime, Rove held a conference call with five Republican members of Congress who were outspoken opponents of embryonic stem-cell research--Senators Brownback and Santorum plus Representatives Christopher Smith, David Weldon and Joseph Pitts.

"The reaction was first one of relief," says Santorum. "We had heard rumors that the President was going to fund stem-cell research, and many of us thought this was going to be the Frist proposal." Santorum says Bush's decision might "actually stop further destruction of human life because the scientists who now are looking for robust funding programs are going to be working with these existing stem-cell lines. So the desire to create more stem-cell lines through destruction of human embryos will be alleviated."

In weeks to come, protest against the compromise is likely to intensify among both scientists and people waiting for medical breakthroughs. There were immediate questions about whether Bush was correct in saying there are "more than 60" existing stem lines available for research. A White House that has often called for "sound science" on global warming will now have to prove that it has not offered a rosy number of available stem-cell lines.

One way that Bush may have come up with a higher number of available stem-cell lines is through a relaxation of the ethical rules governing how they are collected. The Washington Post reported last Saturday that one of the ethical guidelines put in place by Bush--that the embryo donors must have given "proper informed consent"--was less strict than rules established under Bill Clinton, which specified in detail what informed consent would be. That change could have helped make a larger number of stem-cell lines available for research.

Bush may end up tripping on his own logic. Now that he has sanctioned the principle of government funding for research in existing stem-cell lines, he may have difficulty holding the line at 65. Privately funded researchers will be producing new stem-cell colonies from discarded embryos. When scientists come to Bush saying the federally approved cell lines show promise but they need more cell lines, by what argument will he be able to say no? "I have made this decision with great care," Bush said in his address. "I pray it is the right one." It may be, at least for a little while.