AUSTIN – The fight over embryonic stem cell research, until now mainly a battle over clashing values on life and health, has mutated into a hot budget issue in the Senate.

Republican budget writers inserted a provision last week that would ban using funds in the budget for any research that destroys human embryos.

The last-minute move has sparked angry protests, mostly by Democratic senators, though at least one Republican joined them. There are rumblings that some senators may try to block the budget from coming up for debate this week.

While it's not clear whether opponents have the votes, the ruckus has spread beyond the Capitol.

Social conservatives argue that laboratory work on embryos devalues human life and might lead to cloning. Biomedical researchers and economic development boosters say the ban would slow progress on cures to disease and – with the state school board debate of evolution – reinforces impressions that the state is a scientific backwater.

"These types of things make Texas look foolish in the greater scientific community," said Matt Winkler, Austin's leading biotech entrepreneur and the CEO of Asuragen Inc., which he started in 2006 after selling his first company, Ambion, for $273 million.

"By and large, the great majority of biomedical researchers see the benefits of stem cell research," said Winkler, who said his firms haven't done any stem cell-related work.

Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, though, said critics exaggerate what his 24-word "budget rider" would do. He said it simply assures that the budget's $700 million for research doesn't underwrite destruction of embryos.

"There is a significant moral concern amongst many Texans that a human embryo really meets every scientific definition of human life that's out there and that we shouldn't be using human embryos for scientific experiments," Ogden said.

The dispute flared early last week. The Senate Finance Committee, which Ogden heads, took only two minutes late Monday to consider his rider. It says, "No funds appropriated under this act shall be used in conjunction with or to support research which involves the destruction of a human embryo."

The provision was adopted, 6-5, with Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, joining four Democrats against.

For years, embryonic stem cells have been a flashpoint in the war over life issues. Many scientists say they show great promise for treating diseases such as Parkinson's because they might be used to develop any kind of cell or tissue. Some people object because obtaining them requires destruction of an embryo and they contend that stem cells taken from adults are also promising for research.

The Legislature hasn't banned or condoned embryo destruction, largely because it's been mostly a federal issue this decade. In 2001, President George W. Bush issued an executive order that restricted federally funded research to embryonic cell lines already developed. Earlier this month, though, President Barack Obama reversed that policy.

Ogden said state policymakers need to step up, even though most federal money for scientific research bypasses the Legislature, going straight to medical schools and research institutions.

He argued that because many taxpayers strongly object to research involving human embryos, the Legislature should bar using state funds on such experiments.

A leader of Texans for Advancement of Medical Research, a group of citizens and scientists that supports embryonic stem cell research, said Ogden's rider may stop current research projects, even when only private and federal funds are used, because they involve employees and facilities at some of the nine state health sciences centers.

"Those institutions still do the maintenance, they still pay the scientists, they still pay for the operation of the buildings," said Joe Brown, the group's president, a retired Houston real estate investor who has a genetic heart disease and hopes for a cure. "That is written broadly enough that just because somebody empties the wastebaskets, it could prevent this [embryonic stem cell research] from happening."

Brown said Ogden's ban would bar research of the kind Bush allowed, using the old embryonic stem cell lines. Brown said the rider even threatens cancer research, where he said embryonic stem cells are merely observed to gain understanding of cell structure.

Ogden, though, said he's not aware of any state-paid research of that type that would be affected.

Proponents of using embryos, who say they are obtained from fertility clinics and would be discarded anyway, said Texas stands to lose billions from a burgeoning biotech industry if it continues to create a hostile legal and regulatory climate.

A recent study by University of North Texas economists Bernard Weinstein and Terry Clower said the state could lose out on as many as 100,000 new jobs in the next five years if the state restricts embryonic research.

Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, said Ogden's rider would "unquestionably" cause Texas to fall further behind other states in capturing biotech jobs.

"It's just another sad day for Texas," Zaffirini said.

However, Elizabeth Graham, director of Texas Right to Life, which opposes embryonic stem cell research, applauded Ogden's move. Graham, who said adult stem cells offer the best path to curing disease, dismissed talk of potentially lost jobs.

"The fact that Texas does not want to be a leader in destroying human lives does not discourage scientists from coming here but rather encourages them that they can have an ethical scientific research practice," she said.

As the Senate prepares to debate a $177 billion, two-year budget this week, though, the rider is an irritant to some lawmakers.

Zaffirini and Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio said Ogden should have let scientists testify about the fund ban's possible effects. Van de Putte said some senators already unhappy with the budget may be so angry about the rider that they'll try to block action.

"It may very well have to be removed before we reach the critical number of 21," she said, referring to a rule requiring approval of two-thirds of the 31 senators before a bill can be considered.

Ogden, though, said he's not worried. He said he distributed the rider to budget writers last Monday morning, which meant they had some six hours to ponder the matter.

"The criticism that this was somehow a ... sneaky one is just wrong," he said