mr. speaker , i thank the chairman for yielding me this time and for his leadership and the leadership of others on this debate today . 
this debate is defined in so many ways by the conscience of each member ; and as each member comes to the floor , as each member speaks , i think my colleagues can see that this debate uniquely is based on their own view of this and their deeply founded view of this . 
in fact , the whip 's office is not real busy today , because we are not whipping this vote . 
i do not think my friends on the other side are whipping this vote either . 
why would that be ? 
why would we have a vote on a bill like this that , based on the debate , is so important that we would not be trying to persuade members ? 
because we feel on both sides of this aisle , apparently , today that this is a matter of real conscience . 
this is a matter where people can deeply disagree . 
this is a matter about the very definition of life itself . 
because of that , i am firmly on the side of those who believe it is not time yet to federally fund this particular kind of research . 
there is private sector funding available . 
some states like the state of california recently decided they would fund this in a significant way . 
other states have decided they would totally outlaw research . 
so this is clearly an issue where the country is divided . 
the ethics of this issue , as the gentlewoman from ohio ( ms. kaptur ) xz4002110 suggested earlier , are not as clear as they should be . 
the future ownership and use of this research is not as clear as it needs to be . 
the first principle of bioethics should be : first , do no harm . 
we are not at the point in this issue where we can firmly say we are not doing harm . 
we are at the point when we can say that all of those concerns that this research is not possible if we do not fund it with federal funding are just not right . 
this research is possible . 
i do not agree with it myself , but i particularly do not agree that we should take the tax money of millions and millions of taxpayers who believe this is absolutely wrong and pay for this research in that way . 
i urge a `` no '' vote on this bill , mr. speaker . 
