Blunt On Stem Cell Vote: Focus Should Be On Patients, Not Political Stunts

Statement

BLUNT ON STEM CELL VOTE: FOCUS SHOULD BE ON PATIENTS, NOT POLITICAL STUNTS

Southwest Missouri Congressman Roy Blunt (Mo.) issued the following statement this afternoon after Democratic leaders once again brought up and passed a controversial stem cell measure already vetoed once by President Bush, and likely to be vetoed again:

"There's no question the advancement of stem cell research should be a top priority of this Congress. The only question is where to draw the ethical line.

"For me, that boundary is the destruction of human life. Yet once again today, Democrats chose to pass a measure that ignores alternative forms of research in favor of a bill that uses taxpayer money to fund an ethically controversial, technically unproven methodology. Thankfully, this bill is nearly identical to the one already vetoed by the president once and destined for the same fate again.

"Democrats could have used today's floor time to promote research we all could support - research into adult stem cells and cells taken from umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid and the skin. Instead, the majority rejected the idea of working with House Republicans to achieve something meaningful, and instead pulled a political stunt."

The majority also failed this week to garner a simple majority for legislation mandating the destruction of cloned human embryos created solely for exploitation and research. The bill, brought up under special rules usually reserved for non-controversial measures, required a two-thirds majority to earn passage. It failed to earn even a simple majority, failing 204 - 213. Blunt joined 181 other Republicans in voting against the bill.

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