Day 49
March 9, 2009
"Countless people, suffering from many different diseases, stand to benefit from the answers stem-cell research can provide."
—Nancy Reagan, former First Lady, praising President Obama's order reversing the ban on federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research
"The Administration now steps onto a very steep, very slippery slope. Many researchers will never be satisfied only with the so-called leftover embryos."
—Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, criticizing the President's order reversing the ban
Obama continues undoing Bush Administration policies by signing an executive order reversing the ban on federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research. He approaches the controversial topic by insisting that the move is about ensuring "that we make scientific decisions based on facts, not ideology." Some critics from both sides of the aisle, however, caution that Obama is going too far in the other direction by dismissing the moral element of the debate and suggesting science trumps all when it comes to policy.
The President continues to wade into Bush policy later in the day as well, signing a memo ordering officials not to rely on Bush-era signing statements without first checking with the Attorney General's office. He also indicates that he'll issue his own signing statements, provided they're based on "well-founded" legal reasoning.