In other news, President Bush has issued the first veto of his presidency in order to bar the expansion of federally funded stem cell research.

• President Bush: “This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others. It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it.”

The House came up 51 votes short of the needed required two-thirds majority to overturn the veto. Scientists have widely criticized Bush’s move to block the use of embryonic stem cells to find treatments or cures for many debilitating diseases. Polls show 70 percent of the country back stem cell research.