Senate Plans Hearings on Stem Cells

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http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/08/24/senate-plans-hearings-on-stem-cells/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fwashwire%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Washington+Wire%29

* August 24, 2010, 1:10 PM ET

Senate Plans Hearings on Stem Cells


By Peter Landers

Democrats in Congress have begun to gear up for action on embryonic stem-cell research in the wake of a judge’s ruling yesterday barring federal funding for the research. Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa), who is chairman of the Senate health committee and also chairman of an Appopriations subcommittee that funds medical research, said today he will hold hearings on the subject Sept. 16, during the first week the Senate is back from its summer recess.

Harkin called for the ruling to be appealed and said the research must proceed. “Embryonic stem cell research offers hope to millions of Americans who are suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases,” he said.

In 2006 and 2007, Congress passed legislation allowing federal funding for embryonic-stem-cell research, with 17 Senate Republicans voting yes in 2007. Both measures were vetoed by President George W. Bush, who said in 2007: “If this bill were to become law, American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos.”