Schwarzenegger Discusses Executive Action to Strengthen Stem Cell Research in Press Conference Friday
Schwarzenegger Discusses Executive Action to Strengthen Stem Cell Research in Press Conference Friday
GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:
Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Yesterday I directed my Department of Finance to loan up to 150 million dollars to the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. The court's affirmative decision a few months ago in the Proposition 71 challenge leads me to believe that there's no reason why we should not go and make this money available as soon as possible. I'm 100 percent committed to advancing stem cell research in California, and to the promise that it holds for millions of our citizens who suffer from chronic diseases. California is poised to lead not only the state but the country, and all countries, on stem cell research. We cannot fall behind other nations that make this life-saving science their priority. I believe it is critical that we take action to ensure continued progress of this revolutionary science. This is another opportunity of the people of California to lead the way.
Thank you. And now I would like to have my friend Bob Klein, who is actually the man that has led Proposition 71 to victory, come out and say a few words. Please.
ROBERT KLEIN:
Thank you, Governor. This was a brilliant example, an inspiring example, of government in action. The Governor's action in providing this loan of 150 million dollars to the agency makes it possible to bring the promise of Prop 71 to reality, to have a national scale program to replace the program of medical researchers themselves that the nation is not carrying out, so that patients everywhere, 110 million patients in the United States with chronic disease or injury have the hope, the hope sustained by California.
The day after the election in 2004 the editorial section of the New York Times was headed, "California to the Rescue." The rescue today will now be implemented fully well beyond the blockages of the court challenges of ideological parties with whom we disagree, who do not respect the mandate of the public. But the Governor will make stem cell research in California the centerpiece of a world coalition, involving 17 nations who have joined with us in the international stem cell forum, to drive this research forward for patients everywhere.
Today we're going to hear from Dr. Edward Penhoet, the Vice-Chair to my right, a tremendous leader on our board and President of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
And we're also going to hear from Candace Coffee on my left. Candace had Devic's Disease, a terribly destructive demyelination disease that has left her paralyzed at different points in her life, that has left her without the sight of her right eye. She fought this year to regain her life. She has successfully recovered, but she fights every day against demyelination. Hopefully stem cell research, over a period of years, will lead her off the types of drugs that she uses to stay alive and functioning.
Every individual in California, nearly half the families in California with children or parents with chronic disease and injury, gain hope, like Candace does, from the action of the Governor today, just as all the patients with us on the dais today see this as a way that, if it is not soon enough to benefit them, it may benefit their children and their friends, and those in years to come who will fall victims of chronic disease that has ravished our country and the world from the beginning of man.
This is a great day for stem cell research in the United States, thanks to the bold and decisive action of our Governor. Thank you. (Applause)
DR. PENHOET:
Thank you, Bob, and thank you very much, Governor, for an absolutely wonderful gift to the State of California, but especially for people who suffer from chronic disease everywhere.
I'd like you to know that this gift has been matched already in California by 150 million dollars of commitments from various individuals, either directly to the CRIM, where we have raisedand primarily that's been Bob's workwe have raised 50 million dollars from individuals, foundations, interested parties throughout the state, to support the activities of the CRIM. And it's our belief that the universities of the state have collectively raised almost 100 million dollars themselves to prepare themselves to invest in the future of stem cell research. They're there just waiting for the opportunity to get the grant money in their hands to begin their research.
And you can't find a better place in the world to invest this money. California has the largest contingency of world-class researchers in biology on the planet. We also have the world's most vigorous and successful bio-technology industry, which will be important to commercialize the products that come from stem cell research. And so you add that all up; strong support from Sacramento for thisespecially as indicated by the Governor's recent action to prime the pump with this 150 million dollars; a willing, no, more than willing, an absolutely eager and totally professional group of scientists dying to dive into this research in a most aggressive way; and the biotechnology industry willing and able to take it forward when the time is appropriate for them to do that.
I think this is a historic day. We've had a difficult two years, as many of you know, taking on numerous challenges from many different quarters. We think that we've made an extraordinary start in spite of those challenges. We have a good intellectual property policy that's almost completed, we have very high standards for how this work will be conducted. We've included a very able and committed staff and CRIM. We're ready to go to work, and this money provides us the opportunity to do just that.
So thank you again, Governor. (Applause)
MS. COFFEE:
As you all know, embryonic stem cell research has the potential to discover cures for diseases such as diabetes and Alzheimer's, and my condition, Devic's Disease and lupus. Over 70 percent of Americans support stem cell research, but our current leadership has continued to block that funding. I'd like to personally thank Governor Schwarzenegger for his bold action regarding the recent veto on Wednesday to provide federal funding for stem cell research. Governor Schwarzenegger has continued to be a constant and unwavering supporter of stem cell research regardless of political pressures. He's demonstrated what I believe to be the true spirit of California, which is brilliant, bold, and committed to the care of (IA) people.
Last August I had the honor of sharing the stage with the Governor, but just a few months after that I suffered a relapse. My disease has caused me, as mentioned earlier, to endure months of blindness and paralysis in addition to agonizing pain. As a result, this has left me blind in one eye and damaged in the other eye. My constant battle with my diseases proves the absolute necessity for this research to go forward. The current treatments available are not sufficient; they're nothing more than band-aids that serve to only partially suppress my conditions. In addition to their lack of effectiveness, they're accompanied by a host of side-effects that I must contend with daily, including headaches, nausea, fatigue and chronic pain. Since my diagnosis, I cannot recall a day without a headache. It's simply become a part of my daily life. And recently I have found it difficult to eat. I usually have to force myself to eat at least one meal a day. And I sleep with icepacks every night to ease the pain of my inflamed joints. That's my life right now.
I don't have the luxury of vetoes or the dragging of political feet. President Bush's veto stole my hope, and the hope of millions of Americans anxiously awaiting progress for its finding curing. But just as quickly as our hope was stolen, it was renewed with Governor Schwarzenegger's efforts and his 150 million dollar loan to ignite stem cell research in California. We, the patients and the family members who are desperately in need of these cures, will not be silenced. And Governor Schwarzenegger has been a voice for us. This research will happen, and we will not stop fighting for its progress. Thank you. (Applause)
GOVERNOR: Thank you very much. And I also want to say thank you to all of our friends that came here, that are all with us here today. Thank you very much for being here with us.
>>: Thank you, Governor. You're a true hero.
QUESTIONS/ANSWERS
GOVERNOR: Thank you very much. So if you have any questionsof course, you know that if you have detailed questions about stem cell research, luckily we have the experts here. So go ahead.
Q: Governor, given your differences with President Bush on the issue of stem cell research, the differences with the Bush White House on the National Guard deployment at the border, your differences on the issue of global warming, your differences on the issue of aid to California, are you still pleased thatare you still glad that you campaigned for the President in Ohio and spoke at the Republican National Convention?
GOVERNOR: You really know how to dramatize. You know, this is a totally different issue. I think that what is important is you don't have to agree with someone on every issue. And you pointed out now the things that we disagree on, and there are an endless amount of issues that agree on. The bottom line is that whenever I see something that we can do for the people of California, we will do it. It doesn't matter what the federal government thinks, it doesn't matter to me what the President thinks about it, or what any party thinks about it. I always try to do what's best for the people of California.
This is a great, great idea that the people of California have passed the stem cell research proposition, Proposition 71, and Bob Klein did an incredible job throughout theand I know how many years it takes to get everyone on board, because I passed the After School Initiative, and we have talked about it. He did extraordinary work. This was kind of like he was obsessed about this, and he was like doing this work 24 hours a day. And I told him right from the beginning, I said, "I'm with you on this," I said, because I believe it is the right thing to do, no matter what anyone else thinks. And I respect other people's opinions, don't misunderstand me. I respect other people's opinions. Not everyone can be on the same page here.
But I believe that we must move forward with stem cell research, and this is why we, the State, loans up to 150 million dollars, because we want to send a very clear message that we, California is leading the way, that we believe in stem cell research and want to be the leaders, not only in this country, but for all nations we want to be the leader. We want to tell the world, come to California. Do your research here. We are serious about this, and we are No. 1.
Q: Governor, speaking of those loans, if they're eventuallyif Prop 71 is eventually overturned in court, how would you plan to repay those loans?
GOVERNOR: Well, there's another level of courts that you can go, you know. We can go all the way up to the Supreme Court, so I have no worry about that. But I think that the last court decision, it was very clear in which direction they go, because it is legal, the people have passed it, and we ought to move forward with stem cell research. As you know, that those court cases are not meant to be for them to overturn it; those court cases are because they want to block the research, they want to block that we can sell the bonds. And our Treasurer had obviously difficulty selling the bonds, you know, with all the work that has been done, they have had difficulty selling the 200 million dollars worth of bonds. So that's why we came to the rescue.
And I want to tell you that we would have come to the rescue here no matter if the White House would have approved the stem cell research or not, because we cannot wait any longer. This is the bottom line. It right now it looks like that Proposition 71 money will become available maybe in 12 months, maybe in 18 months, when everything is successful in the courts. The federal government, when they say, yes, we're going to believe in stem cell research, we will make money available, that money will not become available until a year from now at least.
But they need the money now. They need the money now because the people that are sitting behind us here, they need cures. We cannot wait a year for that money to become available. And so this is why we have talked about it, we have talked to other people in stem research that have come to me over and over and said, please help us get that money, we need some money to just tide us over to the next year. And this is what this is about. It's kind of like a little bit of money, when you look at the whole picture, and we hope that this can be helpful so they can move forward with the research.
Q: Governor --
GOVERNOR: Yes, please.
Q: Could you please talk about your Health Affordability Summit on Monday, and what you're hoping to accomplish?
GOVERNOR: Well, you know, we have a problem in California. It's a major problem that a lot of people ignore sometimes but everyone knows it, and that is that we have too many uninsured people in California. And we have 6.7 million people uninsured. We have still a lot of children that are uninsured, even though we made great progress by insuring now almost 90 percent, or over 90 percent, of the kids.
But there's still much more to go. So what I want to do is, I want to bring everyone together, all the experts, all the most brilliant people in that business, and also both parties, and union leaders, business leaders, everyone, and to get together in one conference and to debate and talk about this, and to start really getting down to what can we do to insure more people in California, and more children in California, and how do we go about to bring down the health care costs?
Because we can talk all we want about insuring more people. There are some people that just can't afford health care. So if we bring the costs down and become more innovative and more creative about how we go about it, rather than always going back to the old thing about talking about universal health care and those things, I think there's a way that we can do it. I think Massachusetts has shown a way that they can do it, and I'm inspired by this, by the idea of how many people have, with great enthusiasm, said, we want to be there, we want to be part of this summit.
So that's what this is about, is justbecause by the time I go, I get to the State of the State Address in January, I want to have enough of our plan together so that we can put the plan forward to the legislature and say, let us now work and make next year the year where we can solve this problem and insure more people of California. That's what it is.
You know, health care, or health, has been always something that I was very passionate about. That's why I was into fitness, and into training, and weightlifting, and all those things. It was all about health. And then that's why I was enthusiastically the Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, to promote health and fitness amongst our youngsters. So I think this is just something that I believe in very strongly.
STAFF: Last question.
Q: Governor, why wait until now to have the health summit? I mean, you went three months until election day nowwhy wait until now? There's only one month of session.
GOVERNOR: When would you have wanted me to call it?
Q: You've been in office since 2003 now.
GOVERNOR: Yeah. It's a very good question. You're new, so let me tell you that the first year I said this is the year of bringing the economy back. The second year I said will be all about reforming the system. The third year will be all about rebuilding California.
And so now, next year, I think we ought to do two things mainly, which is to redo the health care system and find a way of making everyone insured, or as many people as possible insured, and also to fix our prison system. I think that's another thing that has been looming over us, and everyone knows it's been a big problem, and so we're going to make some major moves in those areas.
As you know, you can't put too many things on the plate, because then everything gets confused. As you remember, last year I tried to put four things on the plate and people criticized me by saying I put too many things out there, I should tackle one thing at a time. So that's what I'm trying to do, is try to tackle one or two things at a time.
STAFF; Thank you very much.
Q: Governor, our paper carried a story this week about one of your campaign advisors who is also doing some work for AT&T. Some ethics people we spoke to expressed concerns about that. Do you have any concerns that your campaign people might also be working for industries that are negotiating with your administration on various policies? Or do you think that's not an issue as far as Matthew Dowd goes?
GOVERNOR: It hasn't been an issue to me, but I am really focused, and I'm sorry to say I haven't read that story. But I do read most of the stories, especially if you read themor write them, I should say.
Q: Thanks.
GOVERNOR: As far as I know that's really no concern of mine, there's nothing really that is a concern, and I think we keep a very (IA) here.
STAFF: Thank you very much. Thank you.
GOVERNOR: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause)
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