Tom Harkin

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that if the majority leader or his designee introduces a bill related to energy during Thursday's session, it be in order to move to proceed to that legislation on Friday.

Mr. HARKIN. I yield the floor.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Eight minutes? Then I yield myself 8 minutes, I guess. First of all, Mr. President, I thank all the Senators who came here to speak in support of H.R. 810, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, moderates. I think it has been a very good debate. When I started the debate, I talked about hope. Senator Feinstein spoke about that. Senator Kennedy just spoke eloquently about hope. I think that is where we should close the debate, on hope, because H.R. 810 offers real hope. It offers real hope to people who are suffering from Alzheimer's, from ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, juvenile diabetes. It offers hope to their loved ones and their families. Senator Kennedy just read the statement by Lauren Stanford about her hope, her hope that she can one day be whole again. To repeat for emphasis sake what Senator Kennedy just said, Lauren Stanford--she is innocent, as she said. She did nothing to bring on her diabetes. As she said, all I have is hope. I am so happy to hear that the Senate is thinking of passing H.R. 810. I can dream again. The one thing that has helped me accept what I have had to all these years is the presence of hope. Hope keeps me going. That is Lauren Stanford. ``Hope keeps me going.'' H.R. 810 basically opens the door and lets in the sunshine. It opens the door for more responsible research, research done with good peer review, research done with good oversight, and, I might add, research done with strong ethical guidelines that we have in H.R. 810. I remind my colleagues and all who are watching, the ethical guidelines in H.R. 810 are stronger than what exists right now--stronger than what exists right now. The American people get it. They understand this. We know in a recent poll that asked, ``Do you support embryonic stem cell research?'' that 72 percent said ``Yes.'' That is almost three out of four. Most of these American people who support stem cell research don't have MDs. They don't have a Ph.D. But they know one thing: virtually every reputable biomedical scientist, almost all Nobel Prize winners, say that embryonic stem cell research holds enormous potential to cure diseases and injuries. They know that. That is why 591 groups, disease advocacy groups, patient groups, scientific groups, research institutions, religious groups--591 American organizations support H.R. 810. That is why over 80 Nobel Prize winners have written to us asking us to pass H.R. 810. The American people get it. They know what is at stake. As I said, it has been a good debate. I thank Senator Frist, our majority leader, for engineering this debate and making it possible for us to have an up-or-down vote on H.R. 810. But I must say, in the last couple of days, what has saddened me is that so much time has been spent talking about whether adult stem cells or embryonic stem cell research is the way to go. Frankly, the vast majority of American people could care less. They could care less. They want cures. They want cures for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's and juvenile diabetes and spinal cord injuries. They want their loved ones to have a better life, a fuller life, a pain-free life--less suffering. If adult stem cells get us there, fine. If embryonic stem cell research gets us there, fine. We should not shut the door; we want to open the doors. We have done 30 years of work on adult stem cell research and not one of these illnesses has yet been cured or even remotely cured by adult stem cells. We have only had embryonic stem cells for 8 years, but we ought to open the doors. It is a false dichotomy to say that it is either adult stem cells or embryonic stem cells. As Senator Smith of Oregon said today so eloquently, the people of America want these embryos that are left over from IVF clinics not to be discarded but to give the gift of life to those who suffer. Last night when I left the floor of the Senate, I met a young man out here, the first time I ever met him. His name is Jeff McGaffrey. He is sitting here on the floor of the Senate today. I didn't know this: he is an intern on the HELP Committee. He was appointed to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Missouri, and during his first year there he suffered an accident and now doesn't have the use of his legs. He is paralyzed from the waist down. I want to read this. This is a letter from Jeff McGaffrey. Honest to God, not a day goes by, not an hour goes by when I don't think about my days at the academy, about the life I led as an officer in the Armed Forces, leading soldiers in service to our nation. In spite of this chair that I am confined to, I still regard myself as an officer, a soldier on the frontlines of a different type of battlefield; a battle not against a country or an army, but against disease and injury. I continue to cherish the hope for a cure, until the day comes, if God-willing, I can walk away from this chair and back into the camaraderie and respect of the men and women who proudly serve our country in the Armed Forces. I ask that you please keep my hope alive, and not just my hope but the hopes of millions of people, including our soldiers and veterans who proudly served our country and who currently suffer from disease and injury. Keeping this hope alive is made possible by moving forward with stem cell research, especially H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. We know not where embryonic stem research might lead, but we know there is only one way to find out, by allowing NIH funding for our best and brightest scientists to explore the full therapeutic potential of embryonic stem cells. I ask unanimous consent that Jeff McGaffrey's letter be printed in the Record.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I close with this thought. So many people are suffering in our country. They have hope. My nephew Kelly was injured 27 years ago serving his country--just like Jeff McGaffrey--on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. He was sucked down by a jet engine and broke his neck. He has been paralyzed for 27 years. He keeps his hope alive. He has followed this debate. He has followed years of research. Kelly McGuade is a smart young man. He has followed it, and he knows that the one thing which gives him the best hope is embryonic stem cell research. Are we today going to dash their hopes? Are we going to shut the door, pull the curtain down, and say, I am sorry? What all the major scientists with the best minds say is the best potential--are we going to close the curtain and shut the door? I say open the door. Bring in the sunshine. Let our scientists move ahead with the strong ethical guidelines, with good peer review and with good oversight to give hope to my nephew, to Jeff, and to millions of Americans. I yield the floor.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I yield 8 minutes to the Senator from California, Mrs. Feinstein.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the Senator from New Jersey, Mr. Menendez.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California and also the next speaker, Senator Kennedy, for their great leadership over all of these years to give hope to so many Americans. I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. On behalf of Senator Baucus, I ask unanimous consent that Thad Seegmiler, a Committee on Finance intern, be accorded floor privileges during consideration of the stem cell legislation.

Mr. HARKIN. I ask unanimous consent that Anne Michael Langguth and Bryan Klopack be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's session.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I yield the remainder of the time to the Senator from New York.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I yield 9 minutes to the Senator from Maryland.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I am awaiting the arrival shortly of Senator Lautenberg on our side, but in the meantime I thank Senator Hatch for the eloquent statement he made, to thank him for his long- time support of this endeavor to open more stem cell lines for research. It shows clearly, as I said earlier today, this is not a partisan issue. I see no real partisan cleavage lines anywhere. It was passed with a bipartisan majority in the House. The leader in the House was Congressman Mike Castle, a Republican from Delaware. The Democrat was Congresswoman Diana DeGette from Colorado. Our leader here is Senator Specter, leader on the bill, and I am his counterpart on the Democrat side. We have had great support from both sides of the aisle on this legislation. I don't cast it in any type of partisan terms. There are those who obviously spoke yesterday very eloquently about their moral objections to using embryos. But, again, I point out this bill does not create any new embryos. All we are talking about is using the leftover embryos from in vitro fertilization and only if (a) the donors give their written, informed consent; (b) that no money changes hands; and (c) that the embryo will never be implanted in a uterus and will be discarded. Fifty thousand healthy babies were born last year to couples who went to fertility clinics. Obviously, there are some embryos left over after that. They are frozen. After the parents have the children they want to have, they call the clinic or the clinic calls them and asks, do you want to continue to pay to keep these embryos frozen; and they say, no, we have our family. The clinic will then discard them. That is all we are talking about. Those embryos are going to be discarded, and with the donor's written, informed consent. They can say, no, I don't want them used for that, and then we wouldn't. You cannot induce anyone to do that by saying we will pay you for it. This clearly has to be kept in mind, that this is what we are talking about in this legislation. Senator Lautenberg of New Jersey is here. I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from New Jersey.

Mr. HARKIN. I will soon yield 7 minutes each to Senators Feingold and Schumer, in that order. First, I had a meeting I was supposed to go to at noon. I am sorry I missed the meeting; people are waiting for me. I am not sorry that I was here to hear the profound statement made by my friend Senator Smith. It was one of the more touching, more profound, and more insightful statements made during these 2 days of debate. I thank the Senator for that. I yield 7 minutes to Senator Feingold, and at the end of 7 minutes, to the Senator from New York, Mr. Schumer.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, how much time do we have remaining?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I yield the remainder of our time to the Senator from Massachusetts, Senator Kerry.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Arkansas, Mrs. Lincoln.

Mr. HARKIN. I thank the Senator from Arkansas. Mr. President, how much time do we have remaining?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. HARKIN. I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Carper.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Wisconsin, Mr. Kohl.

Mr. HARKIN

Mr. HARKIN. Is it not being done in the United States?

Mr. HARKIN. Yes.

Mr. HARKIN. I am not intimately knowledgeable of all of the nuances in research that is being done. We had hearings, and we have the information in our hearing record on a lot of that. Standing here now, I don't know all of that.