Despite its full plate, the U.S. Senate must press ahead with another piece of critical business: opening the door to more federally sponsored stem-cell research.

President Bush has threatened to veto any measure that would broaden publicly supported embryonic stem-cell research. That should not dissuade senators from doing the right thing and moving ahead on this encouraging front.

The House already approved a plan that would broaden the opportunities for embryonic stem-cell research in the United States. The Senate now is considering a measure sponsored by Sens. Arlen Specter and Tom Harkin that would ease federal funding restrictions.

In response to critics of embryonic stem-cell research, they have limited federal support to research on embryos from fertility clinics that would otherwise be destroyed.

This is a reasonable approach.

Majority Leader Bill Frist has an alternative plan that would offer funding for research that might lead to deriving stem cells from embryos without destroying them.

In the meantime, the possible payoff of successful stem-cell research in battling diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to diabetes to Parkinson's is too great to let this matter drift.

The Senate should act on this bill and send it on to the president, who may come to recognize the value of this important research.