Bill sponsors are now saying however, that there is only a small chance that the Senate address the bill before its August recess.

The bill is hindered by procedural problems involving other stem cell and cloning related bills. Most believe that these other bills were written with the aim of reducing some of support implied by the House-passed legislation.

"I think there has been an effort to obfuscate the House-passed bill with a collection of other bills," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and leading advocate of the research.

Currently, the bill that was passed by the House would allow for federally funded research on cells extracted from frozen embryos left over from in vitro fertilization procedures.

Supporters include some who normally oppose abortion, and furthermore believe that it is ethical to conduct research on embryos that would otherwise become medical waste.

Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter said that as chairman of a health spending panel, if Fritz's efforts are not successful, he will bring up stem cells when that must-pass appropriations bill is brought to the table after the summer break.

"I'll bring it up as the first amendment out of the box," Specter said. "We've waited long enough."

Read more at Wired