On November 29, during debate on a railroad retirement bill (H.R. 10), Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) offered an amendment to the legislation that includes broad energy provisions and a six-month moratorium on any form of human cloning. Sen. Lott offered the amendment in a show of protest over Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle’s (D-SD) failure to schedule votes on Republican priorities. Additionally, the issue of human cloning resurfaced earlier this week when a Massachusetts biotechnology firm announced that it had cloned a human embryo. A cloture vote on the Lott amendment is scheduled for December 3.
