Obama 'Soon' Plans to Reverse Bush's Order on Embryonic Stem Cell Research
"When are you going to issue an executive order on stem cell research?" Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked President Obama's senior adviser David Axelrod on Sunday.
"That -- we'll be doing something on that soon, I think," replied Axelrod. He added that Obama is considering an executive order lifting the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Under President George W. Bush, federal money for research on human embryonic stems cells was limited to stem cell lines that were created before Aug. 9, 2001. No federal dollars could be used on research with cell lines from embryos destroyed after that date.
Federal rules do not restrict embryonic stem cell research using state or private funds.
Obama made it clear during the campaign he would overturn Bush's directive.
Also on Fox News Sunday, Axelrod refused to say whether the Obama administration would reimpose the Fairness Doctrine: "I'm going to leave that issue to Julius Genachowski, our new head of the FCC, and the president to discuss. So I don't have an answer for you now," Axelrod said.
Asked about politicizing the U.S. Census by giving White House political appointees oversight, Axelrod said the Commerce Department professionals who conduct the Census "should be in charge" of it.
"We want the experts to run this program, and we want to make sure that every American is counted." Axelrod said the Obama administration plans to "bring in additional impeccable people" to help conduct the 2010 headcount.
He also said the "White House needs to ensure that the census is fair and accurate, and that's what we're going to do."
Later, on NBC's "Meet the Press," Axelrod told David Gregory that he was "not going to get into the details" of the housing rescue plan that President Obama plans to unveil on Wednesday.
Several Sunday talk show hosts asked Axelrod if the plan would include lowering the principle for strapped homeowners.
Axelrod didn't address that question directly. "But we obviously have a major problem; problems with foreclosure, problems with people living on the edge and problems with home values around the country just plummeting, which is affecting family, family finances everywhere. We want to do something that will address all of those things," Axelrod said.
Axelrod said President Obama each day reads a sampling of letters sent to the White House from financially desperate homeowners. "We want to do what we can to help the American people and to solve this problem, which is at the heart of our financial challenges," Axelrod said.
Contact: Susan Jones
Source: CNSNews.com
Source URL: http://www.cnsnews.com
Publish Date: February 16, 2009
Link to this article:
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