Sean Patrick Maloney: “I urge the President to allow stem cell research to proceed. Along with the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and…”

“I urge the President to allow stem cell research to proceed. Along with the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and many others in this Congress, we have introduced House Resolution 17 that calls on Federal funding of human pluripotent stem cell research to continue. As the recent statements by a number of prominent Republicans, such as Andy Card and Tommy Thompson, have said, they have come out in support of stem cell research. They underscore that this should not be a partisan issue. After a lengthy public comment period on August 25, the NIH published guidelines on human pluripotent stem cell research. Additionally, they accepted applications for research projects through March, 2001. However, President Bush has put a hold on this work, calling for a review of the guidelines. I say to the President that it is estimated that over 100 million Americans are living with diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes. These people could be helped by stem cell research. We need to support science. We need to support medical knowledge. We need to support stem cell research.”