Cloture war

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) continues to struggle in his attempt to force the Senate to deal with cloning.

Last week, the Senate defeated his amendment to the terrorism insurance bill. The amendment would have prohibited the patenting of embryos, but the Senate voted 65-31 to invoke cloture and strip amendments from the bill (only 60 are needed to do so.) White House aides lobbied against the amendment, worrying that Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) would pull the entire bill if conservative amendments were attached.

The White House assured senators that family groups would not count the vote as part of their official ratings of senators, causing several GOP senators to change their votes and close down amendments. But Family Research Council president Ken Connor said his group would include the amendment on the FRC's influential scorecard. "Some senators are steaming about the misinformation circulated by White House lobbyists, and rightly so," he said.