Embryonic Stem Cell Research

EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH -- (Senate - June 29, 2006)

Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, I would like to follow up on the statement just recently made on the floor by my colleague and friend from the State of Kansas, Senator Brownback. I deeply respect his personal, strong, moral, and religious convictions when it comes to this issue. But I respectfully disagree with his conclusion.

In August of 2001, just a few weeks before the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush made an announcement which was virtually unprecedented. The President made the announcement that he was, by executive order, going to restrict medical research in America.

I can't recall that ever happening before. Perhaps there had been decisions made at lower levels that could parallel this, but this was unprecedented, that our leader, our President, would announce that as a matter of policy the Federal Government, the U.S. Government, would limit research, medical research.

Of course, his announcement on how he was going to do it left many people puzzled. It was all over the question of embryonic stem cell research. It is a complicated area that I don't profess any special expertise in speaking to. But my understanding is that when a husband and wife are unable to conceive a child in the normal way, they turn to a process known as in vitro fertilization where they try to replicate in a laboratory what happens in normal human life. They bring together the egg from the woman, the sperm from the man, and join them into a life which is then implanted into the womb of the mother.

I think it is miraculous and a source of great happiness and joy for couples who otherwise would not have children.

There are some religions which believe that this whole process is immoral, that we should not allow anyone to engage in this kind of in vitro fertilization. I happen to believe from an ethical viewpoint that if a husband and wife in a loving relationship are so determined to have a child that they will go to this length and this extent and then God blesses them with a child, that is a good thing. That is my conclusion. That is how I come down on it. So I would not ban this process. I think this process is a positive thing, a positive family value.

But the process, much like the ordinary human process of conception and creation, is not one that is absolutely perfect. In the ordinary process of human conception not all of the communions of this sperm and egg result in human life. Neither do they in the in vitro fertilization process. So at the end of the day when these couples are seeking to have a baby there is left over these potential lives in this little glass dish in a laboratory.

Our debate is about those potential lives. They will never become children. They never have a chance to become children or babies, obviously, unless they are implanted in a mother's womb.

That is the reality. What happens is that many of these couples, after spending extraordinary amounts of money, end up freezing these leftover embryonic stem cells in case their effort is unsuccessful so they can try again.

When they are successful the question then arises, what happens to these embryonic stem cells? If there is no purpose for them, many of these couples say, Discard them; we don't need them anymore. And they are discarded and thrown away. So the question which we face is whether or not those stem cells should be taken and used in medical research. Why would we want to? Because they are special. Because of the nature of these stem cells, they have the greatest potential to be helpful in curing diseases and in dealing with medical challenges that no other branch of research has been able to address.

This stem cell research was addressed by President George W. Bush in August of 2001. He came up with a morally curious position. He said that all of the stem cell lines that had been created to the date preceding his speech could be used for medical research, but no others in the future.

I don't follow the moral argument of how some stem cells can be used with immunity and from that date forward no others can be used. Sadly, the stem cell lines that he identified were very limited. Some had been contaminated. Their potential for medical research is extremely restricted. So the debate has moved from the President's decision to Capitol Hill.

The House of Representatives has passed legislation. If you would pick up the calendar of the Senate, you would find H.R. 810. H.R. 810 is a legislative measure that has passed the House of Representatives and has come to the Senate and has been sitting on this calendar for 1 year. In the course of that period of time, we have received the assurance of the Republican leader, Bill Frist, a medical doctor, that he will support the passage of stem cell research. For 1 year we have been waiting, 1 year in which thousands of Americans suffering from diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease, spinal cord injuries have been waiting. They have been waiting to get on the political calendar of the United States Senate. I don't understand why we have not called up this bill for consideration.

Look at what we have done in the month of June. We have considered two constitutional amendments which have been defeated, neither of which are high priorities for Americans. Don't take my word for it. In a poll of Americans they said, pick out the most important things you think the Senate can work on, and out of 40 choices that people volunteered, No. 32 on the list was gay marriage--out of 40 choices--and the flag amendment didn't even make the list. We ate up the precious time of the Senate during the month of June on these measures which were defeated. Weeks went by when we could have considered stem cell research, medical research that offers an opportunity for cures for people who are suffering across America.

Then the Republican majority leader said, it isn't enough that we are going to spend time on constitutional amendments going nowhere; we are now going to consider a change in the estate tax which will give extraordinary tax breaks to the richest people in America. The estate tax affects 3 out of every 1,000 Americans who die. Only 3 out of 1,000 pay any Federal estate tax. They are very wealthy people. By and large they make a lot of money. America has been very good to them. They have enjoyed a comfortable life because of their own talents and perhaps the good fortune of being born into a wealthy family.

Senator Frist has suggested that rather than focus on the tens of thousands of Americans who would be benefited by stem cell medical research, we need to focus on a handful of Americans who are well off and give them a bigger tax break.

I am afraid that is why most Americans are losing hope in this Congress. They look at this Republican-led Congress and wonder, What are they thinking? Why aren't we debating an energy policy for America when gasoline prices are going through the roof? Why aren't we talking about health insurance for the 46 million Americans without health insurance and for the millions who have health insurance that isn't worth much? Why aren't we spending time passing the stem cell medical research bill, which passed on a bipartisan basis in the U.S. House of Representatives?

There is no explanation. The only explanation is, it doesn't fit into the campaign game plan of the Republican leadership. Do you know why? Because when you ask the American people, do you want us to move forward on medical research involving stem cells, 70 percent of the American people say yes.

It is an overwhelmingly popular bipartisan issue which the Republican side is scared to death of. That is unfortunate. We need to call on this.

I guarantee that when we return after the Fourth of July recess, the month of July is going to be stem cell month in the Senate. We are going to, with regularity, come to the floor and not only speak to this issue but ask unanimous consent to move to this issue. And every single day, the Republican leadership will have a chance to say, yes, to give hope to millions of people across America who want to see this medical research go forward or, no, to stick to their narrow political agenda in the hopes that the American people won't notice. I think they will. I think a lot of people will notice this one.

I have had a chance to meet with people in Chicago and across Illinois suffering from these diseases. They are heart-breaking meetings. Sit down with the parents of a child suffering from juvenile diabetes and let them tell you what their life is like as they wake up their little girl two times in the middle of the night to take a blood sample to see if perhaps her diabetes is out of control. Talk to the family of that young man suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease who looks like the picture of health but confined to a wheelchair and can no longer speak. His wife speaks for him while tears roll down his face. Talk to my friend suffering from Parkinson's disease, including my great friend and colleague, Congressman Lane Evans from Rock Island, IL, a young man suffering from Parkinson's and decided that he must step aside from Congress because of this battle.

Speak to those people and tell them that we have higher priorities than this medical research. I don't think you can. I can't. That is why stem cell month is going to be the month of July. This Senate is going to have its chance. We are going to continue to bring this up until Senator Frist keeps his promise to bring this measure before the Senate before he leaves at the end of this year.

We are running out of time. America is running out of time. We need this medical research, and we need it now. There are no good excuses left.

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