mr. speaker , i am fortunate to represent the university of wisconsin , madison , where dr . 
jamie thompson and his team were the first to derive and culture human embryonic stem cells in a lab . 
these cells can be described as the parent cells of all tissues in the body . 
embryonic stem cells open the possibility of dramatic new medical treatments , transplantation therapies , and cures . 
but at 9 p.m . 
on august 9 , 2001 , the hope and promise of this embryonic stem cell research was greatly curtailed . 
president bush declared that researchers who received federal funding could work only with embryonic stem cell lines created before that date and time . 
there were supposed to be 78 lines that were eligible for federally funded research . 
however , due to age , old technologies , contamination , only 22 are useful for research today . 
mr. speaker , why are we tying the hands of our scientists who receive nih grants or other federal dollars to support their research ? 
why are we curtailing scientific progress in america while scientists in other countries rapidly seize the opportunity inherent in advancing this research ? 
h.r. 810 creates strong new safeguards and guidelines concerning research on human embryonic stem cells . 
strict criteria , including written informed consent for donation , must be met before federal researchers can derive and culture new stem cell lines . 
some members on the other side of this debate say their constituents are opposed to their federal tax dollars being used on this groundbreaking science . 
well , i have constituents as well , like young jessie alswager of madison , wisconsin . 
jessie has juvenile diabetes , and every year he comes to washington to lobby for this research to move us closer to a cure . 
jessie is only 8 ; so i do not think he pays taxes yet ; but his mom , michelle , sure does . 
and michelle , like millions of other americans who could be helped by this science , very much want their tax dollars spent on stem cell research . 
i urge support of the castle-degette bill . 
