The Carpetbagger Report: How did stem cells end up on the House agenda?

It did seem odd. Last week, House GOP leaders announced that a bi-partisan bill that would loosen Bush’s restrictions on stem cell research would get a floor vote this year. Why would Hastert and DeLay agree to a vote on a bill that they oppose, the religious right hates, and that might embarrass the White House? Bob Novak explained it’s because it was the only way to pass a budget.

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert agreed to schedule the vote for this summer only after Rep. Michael Castle of Delaware, leader of a small band of liberal House Republicans, threatened to withhold votes on the closely contested budget resolution just before the recess began. Hastert asserted he was not yielding on stem cell research to save the budget, but that was the reality inferred by shocked conservatives.