Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act

ALTERNATIVE PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL THERAPIES ENHANCEMENT ACT

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Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I think it is unfortunate that Mrs. Capps, Mr. Markey, Ms. Baldwin and others have attacked our motives on this floor. I think it degrades the debate. This is not about political cover, but how we can support stem cell research that is ethical and works, and promote research on pluripotent cells that do not destroy human embryos.

Let me remind my colleagues that way back on September 11, 2001, DAVE WELDON and a group of us began working on the umbilical cord blood bill that was finally, several years later, signed into law by the President. That legislation, signed on December 20, 2005 provides $265 million over 5 years to create a new, aggressive, robust, cord blood and bone marrow transplantation program.

That is not cover. That is all about trying to find cures. We take a back seat to no one. We have all had sicknesses in our families, every one of us. We just believe that we need to promote research that is both ethical and not embryo destroying.

Let me also remind my colleagues, and this may come as a pleasant surprise, this year we will spend $609 million on stem cell research. Is that cover too? Of course not. We want to find cures. And we want to do it in an efficacious manner as well as an ethical manner. I support Roscoe Bartlett's legislation which he has brought to the floor today.

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