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Washington, D.C. --- Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) released the following statement today, urging the U.S. Congress to override President’s Bush’s veto of federal funding for stem cell research:
“Congress should override President Bush’s ill-advised, short-sighted, and tragic veto of legislation that would have given hope to millions of Americans suffering from deadly and debilitating diseases.
“Today is a historic day, but for all the wrong reasons. In six and one-half years, President Bush had not vetoed one piece of legislation that the Congress has sent him. He has vetoed nothing, even as Congress has passed tax breaks and giveaways for the wealthiest Americans, federal sending has spiraled out of control, and Congress has turned a $5.6 trillion surplus into a $3.2 trillion deficit – a loss of $8.8 trillion. Nobody should be surprised because this Congress has given him everything he has wanted.
“Yesterday, President Bush cast the first veto of his presidency on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 810). With that stroke of his pen, he robbed those with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, and ALS – just to name a few – of the peace of mind that scientists and researchers have all the tools at their disposal to improve the way we diagnose, treat, and cure these diseases. He robbed their loved ones of the optimism that all avenues are being pursued to eradicate these horrible diseases.
“I commend both the House and Senate for passing – in an overwhelming and bipartisan fashion – legislation that would expand federal funding beyond President Bush’s overly restrictive policy of 2001, which limited funding to research on only a few stem cell lines. This limit hinders the progress that our scientists and researchers could achieve. H.R. 810 would allow federal funding of embryos that would otherwise be discarded. Pursuing this research is the moral, ethical, and humane course of action, and President Bush’s veto is wrong.
“Those who oppose embryonic stem cell research claim that it is unethical. This is the same line of argument that has been used in the past to condemn procedures that are now accepted as legitimate and beneficial, such as blood transfusions and in vitro fertilization (IVF). Fertility clinics routinely produce more embryos than are implanted in mothers, and those embryos not used are placed in cryo-storage, usually to bedestroyed and rarely brought to term as a baby. Few Americans would protest fertility clinics and suggest that infertile couples are availing themselves of a fundamentally immoral procedure.
“I am proud that New Jersey is the first state in the country to devote taxpayer funds to embryonic stem cell research. This is a tremendous start, yet the federal government must do more. With his veto yesterday, President Bush put himself squarely on the side of ideology, rather than science, and divisive politics rather than compassionate care. He chose to allow human embryos to waste away, rather than using them for potentially life-saving research. It is a failure of leadership of the worst kind. I hope that Congress is able to override this veto.”
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