Ogden stem cell rider removed from budget

Good.

Sen. Steve Ogden just announced that his rider banning use of state funds for embryonic stem cell research will not appear in the new state budget.

"We really couldn't come to a consensus" so the bill will be silent on the stem cell issue, Ogden announced in this morning's conference committee meeting on the budget bill. "I continue to be concerned about us continuing to be silent" on what he called "a profound issue."

While the federal government has guidelines and regulations concerning use of federal money in such research, "in Texas there are none. I hope even though we adopt this rider (the House version, which was silent on stem cell research), it is not the last word on this subject," Ogden said.

That's fine by me. I strongly disagree with Sen. Ogden's position on this issue, but I'd be happy to have the fight in the House and in the Senate, through the committee process and on the floor, out in the open for all to see. What we got instead was a sneak attack, which gave no one the chance to argue against it. Given that the House did not concur, it was only right to not force the issue via the conference committee, so kudos to Sen. Ogden for not going to the mat over this. Bring it up in 2011 and we can try to settle it then.

Now, if the Davis/Walle amendment on unemployment insurance and the Texas Enterprise Fund survives, then I'll be even happier. The House is supposed to take up SB1569 tomorrow, which likely doesn't leave enough time to pass it and override a veto, so the best bet to make sure Texas gets the unemployment funds it needs is to make it painful for Rick Perry to reject them. Let's hope it happens.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 19, 2009 to Budget ballyhoo