mr. speaker , this is a grand and glorious debate we are having today . 
think of what we are doing . 
we are debating the best route for achieving wonderful , healing medical possibility , possibility that would have been unheard of not many years ago . 
but it is only possibility . 
by definition , good research is always about possibility , about the potential of finding the answers to that which we do not know . 
let me share three perspectives with you today . 
first , that of a friend . 
this is a picture of a family i know . 
the mother , father and i trained together at the medical school in arkansas . 
she was diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes at age 7. she had early complications with retinal problems caused by the diabetes . 
her husband is a doctor . 
five years ago he had an accident and now has paralysis caused by spinal cord injury at the c7-t1 level . 
this family has hope , realistic hope that sometime in the many years of life ahead of them , medical research may give them the possibility of cure or dramatic improvement in her diabetes and his spinal cord injury . 
second , as a family doctor , i practiced medicine . 
my patients and i relied on past research done by many good scientists striving in an ethical manner to end the harsh realities of so many diseases . 
i know some of my friends in opposition to this bill today argue that embryonic stem cell research is junk science . 
i do not share this view , but to those of you pondering this view today i say , let our gifted researchers , not us legislators , answer the unanswered scientific questions for us . 
funded ethical research is not junk science . 
premature conclusion is . 
third , as patients , my wife and i have ventured into the world of fertility clinics . 
we have met doctors and nurses all working hard to help couples have families , and we have studied and prayed over the patient consent forms . 
the ultimate decision on what happens to unneeded embryos should be up to that fully informed family , and fully informed consent is part of this bill . 
i support this bill today . 
i do not know what , if anything , will come from this funded research . 
that is why we do the research . 
please vote `` yes '' for this bill . 
