mr. speaker , i have a prepared statement i am going to put into the record on this bill , h.r. 810 , but i am going to actually speak from the heart because i think that this is a very important issue . 
most of the issues that come before this body , there is an automatic position on . 
it may be the republican position , the democrat position , the texas position , or it could be the committee position . 
and we come to the floor and we , almost by rote , say what is the particular position , and that is the way we vote . 
but every now and then an issue comes up that is really an issue of conscience . 
it is an issue that deserves to be thoughtfully considered , debated , and decided on its own merit . 
now , there are many members today that believe this particular issue is an issue that they feel so strongly about , on either side , that this is an easy issue for them , it is an automatic issue . 
they are going to be for it or against it for very valid reasons . 
but there are some of us , and i am in that camp today , that believe it is not an easy issue . 
i come to the floor as a 100 percent lifetime voting member on prolife issues , minus one vote , in over 21 years . 
on all the votes that the prolife coalition at the state and federal levels have scored as scorable votes , my record until this year was 100 percent , and i voted the wrong way on one issue so far this year from the prolife position . 
so that is not a bad record , 100 percent minus one . 
and after this vote today , i am going to be 100 percent minus two . 
why is that ? 
well , part of it is personal and part of it deals with tragedies in my family in the past . 
my father died of complications of diabetes at the age of 71 . 
my brother , jon kevin barton , died of liver cancer at the age of 44 . 
my first granddaughter , bryn barton , died in the womb 2 days before delivery with complications of the umbilical cord , which had become crimped , and she was actually born dead . 
maybe the research we are debating today could not have helped any of those diseases or could not have helped my granddaughter , but maybe it could . 
i am also going to vote for castle-degette because of the future , not just the past . 
my wife terri and i are expecting a baby in september , jack kevin barton , named after her late father and my late brother , jon kevin barton . 
he may come into this world with some disease . 
hopefully not . 
i have three children that are already alive , brad , alison , and kristin . 
i have two stepchildren , lindsay and cullen . 
i have three grandchildren that are living , blake , brent and bailey barton . 
maybe they will live healthy , productive lives and they will never need some therapeutic breakthrough , but maybe they will . 
maybe they will . 
now , we just voted for an expansion of cord blood and bone marrow research , which is a very , very good deal , and it deals with adult stem cells . 
and maybe the breakthrough is going to come in adult stem cells . 
i hope it does . 
i would love it . 
but maybe , just maybe , it is going to come because of embryonic stem cells . 
now , the president adopted a position in early 2001 that said the existing stem cell lines then in existence could be federally funded for research . 
they thought there were about 78 lines . 
it turned out that there were 22 they are using , there are 16 that are frozen , and there may be one or two more that might be used . 
but in any event , none of those lines that are currently allowed to be used for research purposes at the federal level have been shown to have that breakthrough stem cell . 
there are 200 adult cells in the body . 
the hope of stem cell research , whether it is adult or embryonic , is that we will find that one perfect cell that can be replicated into any of the other cells . 
it is assumed , and it is an assumption , not a fact , that the plasticity of the embryonic cell is better and that there is a greater likelihood , although the research has only been done for the last 7 or 8 years , that there is a likelihood there might be a greater potential . 
and i want to emphasize might be . 
so where i come down is , let us look at all the avenues . 
we just voted for smith-barton-young . 
let us also vote for castle-degette and look at all of our resources . 
that is why i am going to vote `` yes. '' mr. speaker , i rise to manage the time of debate on h.r. 810 , legislation designed to expand the number of sources of embryonic stem cell lines that may be the subject of federally funded research . 
the bill is straightforward , yet the policy concerns surrounding this bill are anything but black and white . 
before i yield time to my colleagues , i want to clarify a few of the following facts . 
what the sponsors of this bill are trying to do is create enough lines of embryonic stem cells to allow basic scientific research to move forward . 
many scientists believe that once we can identify a perfect , undifferentiated stem call , it will lead to significant scientific breakthroughs and the discovery of cures for many diseases . 
currently , there are approximately 22 lines of embryonic stem cells that are available for federally funded research . 
this number is far below the estimated number of stem cell lines that were thought to exist in august of 2001 , when the president announced his stem cell policy . 
when president bush announced that federal research dollars could be used for the first time on then existing stem cells , it was believed that there were at least 60 viable lines of stem cells that could be used for this research . 
for a variety of reasons , not all of these potential lines are now available for research . 
we will also eventually need additional embryonic stem cell lines to make further scientific advances . 
in recent conversations with leading stem cell researchers , they indicated to me that all lines of embryonic stem cells eventually become exhausted . 
in order to produce clinical therapies , it is likely that researchers will also need more embryonic stem cell lines , of different genetic variations , than are presently eligible to receive federal support . 
in addition , the majority of the existing embryonic stem cell lines eligible for federal support use mouse feeder cells , which will make it nearly impossible for these embryonic stem cell lines to be adopted in clinical use . 
for all of these reasons , researchers believe that the current number of embryonic stem cell lines will have to be increased . 
it is difficult to take an ideologically pure position on this issue . 
president bush recognized this on august 9 , 2001 . 
on recognizing the profound potential benefits of embryonic stem cell research , president bush permitted for the first time federal taxpayer dollars to be spent on embryonic stem cell research . 
for my entire career in congress , i have been a staunch defender of the culture of life and opposed all forms of abortion . 
at the same time , i believe we have an obligation to improve existing lives and do what we can to make them better in the future . 
today , on this difficult issue , members will need to vote their consciences . 
my decision to support this bill was a difficult one , which i came to only after much personal struggle and reflection . 
my decision was shaped , in part , by the painful experiences of my own family . 
we lost my brother jon in 2000 , at the age of 44 , after a long struggle with liver cancer . 
my father died after suffering from complications resulting from diabetes . 
let me tell you for a moment about my brother , jon . 
he was younger than me . 
he and his wife , jennifer , had two children , jake and jace . 
he was a state district judge in texas . 
they told jon he had liver cancer when he was just 41 years old . 
we tried everything and , in fact , his cancer went into remission . 
the next year , it came back . 
jon died in just three months short of his 44th birthday . 
i offered to give him part of my liver , but the doctors said he was too far-gone and it would n't work . 
that was five years ago . 
jake is now 15 , and jace is 12 . 
every time i see them and their mom , i think of jon and wonder what stem cell research could have done for our family . 
i can not know the truth with absolute certainty , but my heart says that my brother and my father might be with me today if their doctors had access to treatments from stem cell research . 
their lives were precious to me and to our family . 
i come to my decision on this vote because i believe in life , and in the future . 
if a vote today can save other families from losing brothers and fathers , my conscience will not permit any other decision . 
i fully understand that some will say i am just wrong , or blinded by personal emotion . 
many who disagree with me are my friends , and i completely respect their views and their advice . 
they are good people , and good people with the same facts sometimes come to different conclusions . 
now , a few others will say that death is simply a part of life . 
no , it is not . 
i do not believe that we can ever accept that proposition without setting out on an extraordinary and dangerous path . 
life is to be cherished and extended , and death is to be fought and never accepted . 
my father and my brother died because illnesses took them . 
if i can do something to cure illness and thwart death for other families , i will because i must . 
scientists believe that expanded embryonic stem cell research holds the potential to find cures for diseases like cancer or diabetes . 
it is my hope that supporting this bill will mean that many other american families will never have to endure the suffering and loss that my family went through . 
i believe that my obligation is to help advance science to make human life better now and in the future , in a manner that is consistent with judeo-christian ethics . 
as we move forward with debate on this bill , my only request is that my colleagues try to respect one another and the deeply held beliefs on both sides of this very complex issue . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
