Veto of Fetal Tissue Research Bill Upheld : Legislation: The 271-156 House vote falls short in effort to enact bill to end a ban. But supporters offer measure to allow work to proceed.

WASHINGTON —  The House failed Wednesday to override President Bush’s veto of legislation that would have ended a ban on fetal tissue research but supporters immediately introduced another bill aimed at allowing the work to proceed unimpeded.

In an override vote of 271 to 156, supporters fell more than a dozen votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to enact the measure over the President’s objection.

So far, Congress has failed to override any of the President’s vetoes. Bush has vetoed 30 bills and Congress has attempted to override 29.

Bush vetoed the legislation Tuesday, saying it was “inconsistent with our nation’s deeply held beliefs” and “morally repugnant” to many Americans because it would have permitted research with fetal tissue obtained through abortions.

The fetal tissue provision was contained in a multibillion-dollar National Institutes of Health funding bill sponsored by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles).

The new legislation, introduced Wednesday by Waxman, would give the government one year to establish a bank in which to store fetal tissue from ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages--President Bush’s proposed alternative to using tissue from induced abortions.

The new bill would require researchers who want to perform fetal cell transplantation surgery to first seek tissue from this bank. If tissue is unavailable or unsuitable, the bill would free researchers to seek tissue elsewhere, including from induced abortions, and still receive federal funding for their work.

“If the bank works as the President has promised, then no tissue from abortion will ever be used,” Waxman said.

Medical researchers believe that fetal tissue transplantation ultimately could benefit patients with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, Huntington’s disease, spinal cord injuries and a host of other conditions.

Fetal tissue is especially adaptive to transplantation, and scientists hope that transplanted fetal cells will take over the functions of cells that have been destroyed or damaged.

Waxman said that the new legislation was redrawn to address the objections of those lawmakers who opposed the vetoed measure on the grounds that Bush’s tissue bank proposal should be given an opportunity to work. Another provision in the new bill addresses additional concerns expressed by other members over the cost of the legislation.

“I am determined to move this thing and not let it go away,” Waxman said. “We are simply going to make a promise to people with Parkinson’s, diabetes and other diseases that we will do the research one way or the other. This issue will not go away.”

Assistant Secretary for Health James O. Mason, who lobbied heavily against the bill on behalf of the Administration, could not be reached for comment. But Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, said that the new version of the legislation “sounds like the same thing with some cosmetic changes.” Johnson refused to comment further until he has studied the new bill.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) is expected to introduce a similar bill in the Senate, and both chambers are expected to approve it.