Harkin schedules hearing on stem cell research

The Senate Appropriations health subpanel will meet next week to examine the consequences of a recent court-ordered moratorium on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) announced Thursday. 

Last month, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Obama administration's efforts to expand such research, arguing that the process violates a law against the federally funded destruction of human embryos.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth denied a White House request to delay the moratorium while the appeals process runs its course.

The hearing is scheduled for next Thursday at 10 a.m.

The featured witness will be Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, who will appear along with a handful of stem cell researchers.

This post was updated at 10:27 a.m. Sept. 10. An earlier version mistakenly said the hearing would take place in the Senate HELP Committee.