Fetus Farming Prohibition Act of 2006
FETUS FARMING PROHIBITION ACT OF 2006 -- (Senate - July 17, 2006)
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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague for yielding me time tonight on this important legislation. I rise tonight to express my support for expanding stem cell research. This innovative research offers us a chance to save lives.
Families across this country are holding out hope that we will finally allow science to move forward and deliver on the promise of stem cell research. That is exactly what we should be doing. But, unfortunately, today the hands of American scientists are tied by political restrictions. I believe we can expand stem cell research while still maintaining strict ethical safeguards. That is why I will be supporting H.R. 810.
Back in 2001, President Bush imposed restrictions on promising stem cell research. Since that time, we have learned that there aren't as many useful stem cell lines as the President suggested. The Bush administration promised us that 60 lines would be available for research. To date, only 15 are available, and it appears that all of those lines have contamination problems. The President's restrictions have held back American science and stalled promising research. It is time to correct that mistake and allow our country to make progress.
Stem cell research is about improving medicine, and it is about saving lives. For patients with Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, diabetes or multiple sclerosis, stem cell research holds promising potential to provide the tools to understand, treat, and someday cure these devastating diseases.
I understand the challenges and frustrations these diseases cause. When I was just 15 years old, my dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. In a few short years, his illness became very bad, so bad that he couldn't work anymore, and for most of my life my dad was in a wheelchair. His illness had a profound impact on my entire family. My mom, who stayed home to raise seven kids, had to work to care for him and had to get a job so she could support our family. She got that job, but it was never enough to support seven kids and a husband who was in a wheelchair and with growing medical bills.
I can only imagine how different our lives would have been had there been a cure for M.S. Back then, we didn't have the tools to find a cure, but today we do, and these tools unfortunately are being blocked by an ideological policy that puts politics over science. I think we can do better than that.
My dad's challenges are similar to the struggles millions of Americans and their families face every day. They deserve a chance, and they deserve hope. That is why we can't let the current restrictions stand.
A short time ago, I received a letter from a constituent of mine who lives in Mercer Island, and he wrote:
My 17-year-old son was recently involved in an automobile accident and is now paralyzed from the upper chest down. Stem cell research looks to be our brightest hope by far. Please help give him the chance to ride a bike, go for a hike, and run with his friends again. Please, support stem cell research.
As that father points out, this is about people. It is about keeping our country on the cutting edge of science and research, and I am proud to represent a State that has a strong reputation for scientific research. But for our country to remain a leader in this promising field, our scientists and our researchers need the support of our Government. America should never take a back seat to other countries in the search for promising new cures.
Unfortunately, the President's current stem cell research policy is tying the hands of our scientists by limiting the number of lines eligible for Federal funding. We can do better than that.
In fact, the majority of this Congress has been trying to correct the President's mistake for over a year now. H.R. 810 passed the House of Representatives 13 months ago. Since that date, my colleagues and I have been fighting to bring this issue of stem cell research to the Senate floor. We wrote letters, we pleaded on the floor, and we asked Republican leaders numerous times for even a few hours to debate and pass this bipartisan bill. Our efforts to promote research and offer hope had been denied at every turn. But now, finally, our day has come, and after more than a year of obstruction, we finally have a chance to offer hope to millions of patients and their families. On a bipartisan basis, I believe this bill will pass.
But, of course, we know that is not the whole story. Shortly after we got word that this bill would finally come to the floor, I was dismayed to see headlines announcing that Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political officer and adviser, guaranteed a veto of this important bill. In nearly 6 years in office, President Bush has never once vetoed a bill. It is pretty amazing to me that he would choose this bill--this bill which offers basic hope and opportunity to so many Americans--for his first veto. I believe the President is wrong on this issue, and I think threatening a veto is wrong.
I am here this evening to pledge my support for this bill and to call on my colleagues to support it. But next, I call on them to ask the President in no uncertain terms to stand with us in support of open opportunity, stand with us in support of medical research, stand with us and, more importantly, with millions of Americans who are waiting on a cure, in support of stem cell research.
For far too long, this administration's ideology has trumped research. Politics has been more important than science. With this bill, President Bush has a chance to change course and put people ahead of personal political ideology. I urge him to do the right thing.
For our patients, for their families, and for the future of our Nation's research leadership, it is time for the Senate to pass H.R. 810, and it is time for the President to sign it. Let's take the handcuffs off of our scientists and let them find the cures that will save lives.
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