Bill Clinton: “I welcome the vote on this important piece of legislation, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007. Stem cell…”

“I welcome the vote on this important piece of legislation, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007. Stem cell research holds great hope of providing cures for chronic, incurable conditions from which millions of Americans suffer. But unless we act, the Bush administration will continue to meet this unparalleled moment of scientific discovery with unbridled ideology-- and the American people and scientific community will pay the price. The President's stem cell ban amounts to a ban on hope for millions of Americans. It's time this Congress put an end to the Bush administration policy which is holding science back and holding our Nation back in the race to new medical treatments and discoveries. We all expect that this bipartisan legislation will pass both the Senate and the House. There is a broad consensus in the Congress, among medical experts, scientists, and patient advocacy organizations, and among the American people, demanding that we open the doors to scientific innovation--instead of barring those doors shut. Even within the Bush administration, there is a desire to pursue stem cell research. The Director of the National Institutes of Health, Doctor Elias Zerhouni, has gone on record supporting expanded access to new lines of embryonic stem cells. I am deeply concerned, however, that we have been down this road before a road that begins with the promise of new cures and ends, not with discovery, but with ideology and a veto by the President.”