I urge the U.S. Senate to realize the great potential of embryonic stem cell research and vote yes to pass H.R. 810 today for the millions of patients who could potentially be saved from the live-saving research. The next obstacle is the President and many of my efforts the past couple of weeks have been to force him to reconsider his veto threat on this critical legislation. It is my hope that we can help him see what the majority of his American citizens see, which is the most promising cure for the many diseases that afflict 1 out of every 3 American.

For too long, this federal health research effort has been operating with one hand tied behind its back.  Scientists have been prohibited from doing new stem cell research.  Five years ago, the President restricted federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in the most narrow way.  The President's decision created an enormous loophole for researchers in private, profit making firms in an unregulated atmosphere.  The result was federally funded stem cell research was halted almost entirely.  Stem cell research was conducted by private entities with no federal bioethical standards.  This legislation will remove the restrictions imposed by the Bush Administration that have effectively stopped this research.  This legislation provides the ethical and medical framework for federally funded stem cell research.

This legislation allows for sound science and sound ethics.  It creates strong ethical guidelines for expanded federal stem cell research.  This will ensure that research is conducted within a rigorous ethical framework providing transparency and public accountability.  This legislation expands scientists' access to stem cell lines that are currently off-limits to federal funding now.  Under the President's current restrictions, it will create a strong national framework that will advance the science of stem cell research.  This legislation allows for the national collaboration that is necessary to promote advancement in research that is being done across the country and around the world.

I am on the side of cures and research and I am proud to support stem cell research that will save lives.  There must be strong federal support for embryonic stem cell research with federal scrutiny, regulation and transparency that provides the sound ethical framework that supports the best science and research to find the cures that will save lives.

Yesterday marked the beginning of a renewed debate over stem cell research that I hope will allow my colleagues to engage in thoughtful deliberation over an issue in which much has been promised and yet much is still misunderstood.

Last summer I announced that I support expanding the number of stem cell lines currently available for federal funding. Since the federal policy regarding stem cell research was established in 2001, we’ve found that of the 78 stem cell lines promised only 22 lines currently exist. As these limited lines deteriorate, we lose the ability to harness their potential. That is why I believe we must modify our current policy and expand the number of stem cell lines. We can do so without changing our principles for protecting life.

There are three bills currently before the Senate: S.3504, the Fetus Farming Prohibition Act; S.2754, the Alternative Pluripotent Stem Cell Therapies Enhancement Act; and H.R.810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. Passage of these measures will help spur the next leap forward in stem cell research within clearly defined moral and ethical boundaries that respect both the sanctity of human life and the potential of modern science.

As we move toward votes in the Senate today, I caution us not to over sell advances being made in stem cell research. Biomedical science is constantly evolving, and much basic research remains before we can expect clinical trials and possible treatments. Stem cell research presents one of the first major moral and ethical dilemmas to biomedical research in the 21st century and there is a natural inclination to avoid the difficult debate. However, if we don’t participate in defining research surrounding the culture of life, it will define us.

We all support including a drug benefit in Medicare - but it must be affordable. In crafting this benefit, the Republicans had a choice: they could allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices like the VA does, or they could shift costs to seniors and people with disabilities. They chose to side with the drug companies. That's why seniors and disabled people are confronting the doughnut hole - something not seen in any other public or private policy. A gap in coverage that leaves them to pay thousands of dollars on their own - all the while paying premiums for a benefit they are not receiving.

And they will fall into the doughnut hole every year - not just the first year. 85% of plans have a donut hole. Only 15% -- the ones with the highest premiums - don't. The average senior will fall into the doughnut hole on Friday, September 22. It won't be Friday the 13th but it will be a day of enormous bad luck for those whose monthly incomes are simply not enough to pay a premium plus 100 percent of all their drug costs. It will be a day of not of eager anticipation but of dread - since many senior citizens and people with disabilities have friends who have already fallen into the donut hole. Unfortunately, the first time those in the doughnut hole will realize their insurance company has abandoned them is when they go to the pharmacy - prepared to pay their copay only to find out they are on the hook for the entire cost.

My constituents, David and Marcella Crown, wrote to me about their experience. They wanted to know why, with the USA being the "world's wealthiest nation," they got handed a donut hole even after they felt they had been forced to enroll in order to avoid late enrollment penalties. This drug plan was already needlessly expensive before the doughnut hole hit. Dave and Sharyn Madison from Denver paid $1,307 under the plan for Dave's oral chemotherapy drug. They thought that was expensive, until they hit the doughnut hole and their monthly co-pay more than doubled to $2,587 for that one drug.

Marion Berry and I think we can do better. Our bill, H.R. 752, the Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act, would take a new direction by siding with seniors, not the drug companies. We would let seniors and disabled people enroll in a Medicare-administered drug benefit. We would force drug companies to lower their prices by requiring that Medicare negotiate for deep discounts, like the VA. And we would fill in the doughnut hole with the savings.

The Democrats’ hopes of gaining control of the Unites States Senate concentrate on their efforts in targeting seven Republican incumbents:  George Allen, Rick Santorum, Lincoln Chafee, Conrad Burns, Mike DeWine, Jim Talent, and Jon Kyl.  According to recently released fundraising numbers, Republican incumbents lead their challengers $40.3 million to $16.1 million in these seven targeted races.  This is a $24.2 million dollar deficit that the Democrats must supplement out of their campaign committee in order to match spending in these contests.  Our incumbents have known for quite some time that the political climate has been a challenge and is going to remain tough through November.  They have responded by putting together top notch campaign teams and raising the resources necessary to get their messages out back home.  When Republicans maintain the majority after the November elections, it will be as a result of the stellar performances of our incumbents.

HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, is the one bill that, at long last, will unleash some of the most exciting and promising biomedical research of modern times.
But it’s not just us members of Congress who are saying that.  Last week, Senator Specter and I sent a letter to the National Institutes of Health, asking their top scientists for their thoughts on stem cell research.  Every single one of them said that embryonic stem cell research offers enormous potential.
Here’s what Dr. Elias Zerhouni, the NIH director, said:  “Embryonic stem cell research holds great promise for treating, curing, and improving our understanding of disease.

It is morally reprehensible and scientifically unnecessary to kill human embryos to provide raw fodder for scientific research. Unlike H.R. 810 which is morally unacceptable to me and millions of other Americans, the Bartlett/Santorum bill (H.R. 5526/S.2754) represents common ground into promising ways the federal government can support pluripotent stem cell research without sacrificing life for medicine.

This was an exciting and positive mission. Much information was garnered by this recent shuttle flight. I am pleased to note a new concern with safety which included a broad vetting of safety issues before the launch. An extensive review of safety was done while the space shuttle Discovery was in space and a constant alertness on any possible incident that may cause for alternative measures in the re-entry of Discovery. Americans love their space program and it is the first priority of NASA and Members of Congress to ensure that it is a viable, continuing and safe program. The survival of the space program has to be premised on understanding the risk but at the same time embracing this new important culture of safety. Welcome home, Discovery.

Today, we are simply failing to enact solutions to some of the most daunting challenges facing the middle class and those striving to get there. Subsidizing college tuition, creating a fair national health care program and a plan for energy efficiency all are ideas that my Republican friends who control Washington are failing to act on.

While declining incomes and skyrocketing costs squeeze the middle class, the tax policies of the recent years have saddled America and New York with an increasingly regressive tax code that has contributed to a even wider gap between the rich and poor. Since President Bush took office, the average millionaire has received $111,549 in annual tax cuts - over two and a half times what the average middle class family makes in one year.

It's time we changed this. It's time we gave the middle class a real tax cut. It's time we restored progressivity and fairness. It's time we created a zero tax bracket for those struggling to make it. And it's time we gave parents a bigger break as they raise their kids.

On Thursday, I introduced H.R. 5807, which gives middle class families earning less than $150,000 per year a 10% tax cut, paid for with a 7% surcharge on incomes over $1 million and a 10% surcharge on incomes over $1 billion. The plan restores progressivity to the nation's tax code, easing the tax burden on over 2.7 million middle class families in New York City, and millions more across the nation.