June 7th, 2007

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of Federal funding for stem cell research. Gravely ill Americans are asking their government for help, but President Bush's so-called ``moral'' reservations could again stand in the way of advances in medical science and deny people potentially life-saving cures.

I find it ludicrous that the same administration that has submerged the country in a nonsensical and deadly war professes that to make use of stem cells to develop cures is ``morally troubling.'' The President's backwards approach to what he considers progress would be laughable were the consequences of his decisions not so spectacularly detrimental to our country's welfare.

What is morally troubling is that Americans who are suffering from Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer, and other deadly diseases cannot place hope in what is becoming an increasingly important field of research. It is morally troubling that friends and family who have suffered the loss of loved ones to painful and drawn-out illnesses cannot depend on our country's leaders to pursue what could be an effective form of disease prevention.

Instead of throwing away some 400,000 frozen embryos left over from in vitro fertilization procedures, we should use stem cells from these embryos to better the lives of countless individuals.