i certainly thank the gentleman from maryland for yielding . 
it is indeed a pleasure to again be with him tonight , madam speaker . 
any opportunity that i have as an original cosponsor of the gentleman from maryland 's legislation , h.r. 3144 , is an opportunity that i gladly accept no matter what the hour . 
the importance of this issue really can not be overstated . 
i know the gentleman from maryland as he started this special order hour discussed the fact that of the so-called throwaway embryos , throwaway babies as we see it in these in vitro fertilization clinics that exist across this country , i think somebody estimated there were 400 , 000 of them and that in some instances couples who had gone through in vitro fertilization and completed their families truly would have some extra embryos that they at least at a certain point in time had no intention of having reimplanted . 
so for the time being , maybe they were excess embryos . 
but those of us who feel very strongly about the sanctity of life truly believe that there is no such thing as an excess human life at either extreme , the very youngest embryonic stage or the very oldest , many of whom i would be referring to , our octogenarians and older who might be in a nursing home suffering from alzheimer 's disease at the final stages of their lives , but all of these lives are extremely important ; and as the gentleman from maryland pointed out , there are actually 100 or close to 100 little babies , up to 6 , 8 months old now who were referred to as the snowflake babies . 
they actually were donated to couples who were barren , infertile , from these couples who had completed their family and had these excess embryos frozen that they were not going to use . 
we have seen them . 
i think the gentleman from maryland ( mr. bartlett ) xz4000170 had a lot to do with bringing , along with the gentleman from pennsylvania ( mr. pitts ) xz4003200 , these little children to the house , to the congress , and indeed to the white house during the week that we were debating the bill brought to us by the gentleman from delaware ( mr. castle ) xz4000700 and the gentlewoman from colorado ( ms. degette ) xz4001010 . 
as the gentleman from maryland points out , there are a lot more of those little lives that are still on ice , if you will ; and the gentleman from maryland is so right in pointing out that , hey , maybe one of those would be an einstein one of these days , the next einstein . 
some of my colleagues say , well , just 100 out of 400 , 000 , that is not very many . 
indeed , it is a fourth of this body , madam speaker , almost a fourth of 435 members of the house of representatives . 
there may be some real smart ones remaining on ice that possibly could end up being united states senators . 
more importantly , of course , it could be the next pope john ii or pope john iii or martin luther king , jr . 
or abraham lincoln . 
who is to say what we are talking about as a throwaway life ? 
i am just so grateful for the gentleman from maryland for bringing us a bill , h.r. 3144 , which avoids this issue of destroying human life for the purpose of obtaining embryonic stem cells . 
i do not think , madam speaker , that we will ever get to the point in this chamber , as much as i , and i am sure the gentleman from maryland is of the same mind-set , of wanting to do things in a bipartisan fashion with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle , this issue , this pro-life/pro-choice issue . 
the country is probably pretty evenly divided . 
this body is probably evenly divided . 
but the point is we do not have to get into a knockdown , drag-out , hair-pulling , fingernail-scratching bloodbath over this issue . 
that is what the gentleman from maryland is bringing to us , an opportunity to support a bill that does not lead us down that road where there seems like there will never be a meeting of the minds . 
this opportunity , basically , as he is pointing out with his posters in regard to the ability , with some research , to be able to obtain embryonic stem cells without destroying human life , without destroying the embryo , i have heard him refer to this almost like an embryonic biopsy . 
as i understand the bill , it is an opportunity to encourage , with the president 's blessing , increased funding through the nih for research on nonhuman primates to make sure that this biopsy , actually it has already been done in genetic counseling studies on couples who have a really strong family history of inheritable diseases , something like hemophilia or duchenne 's muscular dystrophy where maybe if it is an adult child , it has a 50 percent chance of having one of these life-threatening , eventually fatal diseases . 
we are already doing testing on those embryos to make sure that it would be safe to put them back into the mother 's womb to grow and develop and become a full-term fetus and there has been no harm in those instances . 
this is not wild-eyed science , something that is star wars mentality . 
not at all . 
we are talking about one of the brightest members of this body , a ph.d . 
physiologist , a doctor of physiology who has taught in medical school . 
madam speaker , when i was in medical school , it was my instructor who taught me physiology , the functioning of the human body in a healthy situation , whether we are talking about the heart , the lungs , or any organ system of the body . 
that is the study of physiology . 
that is who we are talking about when we reference this member , the gentleman from maryland , who is bringing us this bill . 
he knows of what he speaks . 
he has taught not only physiology but also embryology . 
i know my colleagues as they listen to his presentation tonight and they look at the material , the visual aides that he has with him , it is clear that his understanding , his depth of knowledge is far beyond maybe what even the physician members of this body have . 
so it is with a deep amount of respect for him that i have signed on to this bill . 
i am fully supportive of it . 
it gives us an opportunity to address this issue of trying to find a way with stem cells , whether they are adult or embryonic ; and i tend to agree with the gentleman from maryland that embryonic stem cells probably do have a little more potential , although we have had great success in adult stem cells and a lot of these diseases that our colleagues have talked about and we have seen there is no argument , i do not think , in this body , in a partisan way about wanting to help and wanting to use science to the best of our ability to look for a cure . 
there is not a guarantee . 
there is absolutely no guarantee . 
there are probably lots of complications , false starts , two steps back for one step forward . 
there will be lots of money , federal dollars probably being spent on research . 
but the point is the president in august of 2001 was absolutely right , in my humble opinion , in regard to his decision to put a moratorium on the harvesting of stem cells , embryonic stem cells that would result in the destruction of human life . 
at that point , there were some 60 cell lines already in existence that our university research scientists at nih and other places were using . 
the president said , that is perfectly okay to continue . 
those lives have already been destroyed in obtaining those stem cell lines . 
good research was occurring . 
the president , this president , george w. bush , is the very first president that , in fact , allowed federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells . 
so those who criticize or suggest , madam speaker , that this president is insensitive and uncaring , i suggest to my colleagues that this president is the most caring that we have ever had in regard to this issue . 
he has done more than any other president . 
he does not deserve to be criticized , but rather applauded for his efforts in this regard . 
and i think he is steadfast in his determination not to destroy human life because , as the gentleman from maryland has pointed out and as i just said , we do not know those so-called extra embryos , those throwaway embryos . 
we do not know what those lives entail . 
we do know that they have a very unique , full complement of dna that have all of their genetic material they are going to ever have . 
they are the tiniest of human life , little tiny babies . 
we call them embryos , but they are little tiny embryos whose lives are frozen and suspended . 
but they should have that opportunity . 
and even the couples who think , madam speaker , that they would never use those embryos , we have witnessed tragedies every day in the news , this 24-hour cable news that we are subjected to , but we read about children that are kidnapped , abused , murdered , the situation in aruba , the situation in nebraska . 
we can just name so many where people think that their family is complete and they have got all they want out of their reproductive life , and all of a sudden , as the old country song goes , `` some days are diamonds and some days are stones , '' all of a sudden we have a few days that are stones and there might be a tragic loss of a child or more than one child , and all of a sudden maybe those frozen embryos do not seem so expendable anymore . 
so that is why this issue is so important and why i feel so very passionate , not just myself and the author of this bill , the gentleman from maryland ( mr. bartlett ) xz4000170 , but a number of others who have signed on to this bill . 
the white house , i think , is very supportive of this . 
there is a companion piece of legislation , as i understand ; it originating in the other body . 
we are on to something here . 
and again it is a pleasure to join my colleague tonight and share these thoughts , try to maybe enlighten my colleagues on both sides of the aisle , madam speaker ; and i do thank the gentleman for giving me an opportunity to be with him to discuss such an important issue . 
and i will be glad to stick around for a little while if we want to get into a colloquy later on , but i thank him for giving me this opportunity . 
