WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate won't vote until early next year on a bill to loosen restrictions on publicly funded embryonic stem cell studies, under a deal struck Friday by the sponsors.
"The majority leader has committed to bringing it up as one of the first items next year," Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the stem cell bill's lead sponsor, announced on the Senate floor. Before their agreement, the sponsors had said they would hold up a must-pass spending measure until lawmakers voted on the research.
The deal releases Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., from his promise to hold a vote this year on the measure, which would loosen President Bush's 2001 ban on federal funding for research on new stem cell lines.
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