by Bhagyashree Garekar, US Correspondent

In his eight years in the White House, President George W. Bush has wielded the veto sparingly.

When he did use it for the first time, in 2006, it was to deny a proposal seeking federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.

Quashing the proposal, Mr Bush had said that it would compel American taxpayers to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. 'I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line,' he declared.

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