Tom Harkin: “I know that one of the cosponsors of the bill, one of the great leaders in the Senate on stem cell research, has arrived…”

“I know that one of the cosponsors of the bill, one of the great leaders in the Senate on stem cell research, has arrived on the floor to speak. I know the Chair will be recognizing her shortly. I wanted, again, to just take a moment to sort of repeat for emphasis sake what has been said before. I think the distinguished majority leader referred to that also. It is just that here we have an instance where so many leading scientists around, U.S. Nobel Prize winners, and all the disease groups--I submitted a compendium of about 205, and I think that may soar to 500 or 600 by the end of the day--are supporting H.R. 810. Lest one thinks that, A, either they have all been hoodwinked into thinking this bill is something it is not or, B, that these are malevolent people who want to just destroy embryos without any thought about the morality or the ethics of it, they are simply mistaken. First of all, none of these people have been hoodwinked, and most of these scientists are as ethical and moral a people as you could find anywhere. They are saying let's use these blastocysts, embryos, or however you want to define them to enhance life, cure disease and illness, rather than having them be discarded, and to do it in a very ethical manner. That is what this bill provides. With that, I yield the floor. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California is recognized.”