Joe Barton: “We passed this early in this Congress, this particular piece of legislation. It passed the Senate, and it went to the…”

“We passed this early in this Congress, this particular piece of legislation. It passed the Senate, and it went to the President, and the President vetoed the bill. Many of those who support embryonic stem cell research think that we ought to be able to find a little finer middle ground, that we might yet get the President to support a version of the bill. So the sponsors, Mr. Castle and Ms. DeGette, have added the Senate language from the last Congress that Mr. Specter and Mr. Santorum passed as a stand-alone bill that I think passed the other body 100-0, which is a very strong vote. It has been added to this bill. I might add that, apparently, the motion to recommit is going to be something like that language that Mr. Gingrey has offered to the motion to recommit. So what we are trying to do here today is slice the cheese a little bit finer so that those in the pro-life community like myself who have a 100 percent pro-life voting record, over 23 years except for this one vote, can vote for it, those that believe that we should fund a broader array of embryonic stem cell research can vote for it, and the President can accept it. That is what this particular bill is all about. I plan to vote for it.”