Tom Harkin: “I wished to make it clear to our fellow Senators there is a change in the bill they will now notice, the substitute at…”

“I wished to make it clear to our fellow Senators there is a change in the bill they will now notice, the substitute at the desk. The amendment Senator Specter and I offered basically strikes the language in the bill dealing with stem cells. Again, I do this with regret. Senator Specter and I have worked together for many years to advance the cause of embryonic stem cell research. In fact, we worked together on the first bill President Bush vetoed in his first 4 years. That was our stem cell bill, the only bill he vetoed in 4 years. We then came back with another stem cell bill this year, and he vetoed that also. That veto override has not taken place yet. So together we put some additional language in this bill to further the cause of trying to break through and get embryonic stem cell research covered. However, we received a statement of administration policy from the administration yesterday saying they opposed our bill for two reasons.”