Hoyer: “The President Is Impeding Research that the American People and Congress Support”
WASHINGTON – House Majority Leader, and So. Maryland's federal representative, Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement last week after President Bush vetoed the bipartisan “Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act,” the second time the President has vetoed bipartisan legislation that would expand federal funding for potentially life-saving stem cell research:
“President Bush's veto of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act today reaffirmed that he is the impediment to ethical, scientific research on human embryonic stem cells that holds unique promise for potentially life-saving therapies and cures.
“In vetoing this legislation – which is strongly supported by the American people and bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate – the President defied the will of the people and bucked the American tradition of our government working with the scientific community to ensure that it has the tools it needs to save lives.
“It cannot be stated enough that this legislation is reasonable and sensitive to the ethical issues involved. The bill would only authorize federal research funds for stem cell lines generated from embryos that otherwise would be discarded by fertility clinics, and it would direct the Department of Health and Human Services and National Institutes of Health to issue ethical guidelines to ensure the highest ethical standards of scientific investigation.
“Democrats will continue to fight to lift the current restrictive policy on federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells, so that we can look back on this Administration’s approach as nothing more than a regrettable, temporary anomaly.”