U.S. Senator
Diane Feinstein, along with other U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Gordon H. Smith (R-Ore.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass), appeared at a press conference yesterday on Capitol Hill and called on Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn) to give the DeGette-Castle bill expanding federal support for embryonic stem cell research the same thing he repeatedly demanded for President Bush's judicial nominees: an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor.
To listen to Senator Feinstein at that press conference making the case that the U.S. Senate ought to vote on and pass the DeGette-Castle bill that would authorize federal funding for the transformation of "surplus" human embryos into embryonic stem cells, click
here.
Senator Feinstein yesterday issued this statement in support of the DeGette-Castle legislation:
"I am grateful for Representatives Castle and DeGette and their leadership in getting stem cell legislation passed in the House. They’ve shown that Republicans and Democrats working together can in fact do very good things.
"Let’s look back to 2001. In 2001 President Bush authorized the release of 78 stem cell lines. The problem is they have all become contaminated with mouse feeder cells. Therefore none of them are useful for treating or curing diseases in humans. Some have said, ‘Why haven’t researchers applied for these stem cell lines?’ The reason is because they are contaminated and they are not viable for human research.
"So this is really the first opportunity we have now to see that this kind of research begins in the United States. I join with my colleagues in urging the Majority Leader to bring the House bill to the floor. We should then pass that House bill. We should send it to the President. And we should strongly make the arguments.
"South Korea recently announced its advances in human stem cell research. I think that the one thing they show is that the possibility of what stem cell research can accomplish is a large possibility, and it is, in fact, a probability.
"California passed Proposition 71 with a dominant majority last November to create a $3 billion stem cell research center. At least five other states are following.
"It should be very clear that a majority of American people want to see this research go ahead. I think the argument has been made that this isn’t human life. A decision has already been made to discard the embryos that are eligible for research under this bill. These embryos are never going to become a child.
"So I think this is the soundest first step we can take. The fact that it was done in the House, which generally is much more conservative than the Senate on these matters, adds a line of strength that we haven’t had in this debate before.
"My very simple hope is that it won’t be long before this bill will be on the floor of the Senate. And then hopefully, we will be able to go and talk to the President of the United States. And hopefully we will be able to convince him not to veto this bill, because this bill is really in the interest of the people of the United States, particularly the millions who are facing catastrophic and devastating disease."
