madam speaker , there have been a number of articles in the recent press relative to stem cell research , with particular reference to embryonic stem cell research .  i thought it might be well in starting this little discussion to take a look at what we mean by stem cells .  i have here a chart which shows in very abbreviated form the development of an early embryo .  it starts out with the zygote , which is the fertilized egg ; and then it skips a couple of stages of development , and it goes through the blastocyst , and then it goes to the gastrula .  by the time the embryo gets to the gastrula stage , the cells have already differentiated to the place that we have three different kinds of somatic stem cells .  this is the ectoderm , and the mesoderm , and the endoderm , and then those very specialized cells , which in the female will be the germ cells in the ovary , the ova , and in the male will be the millions and millions of sperm that are in the gonads of the male .  if we look back , madam speaker , at these stem cells that are present here in the gastrula , where we have these three , as we call germ layers , we see the ectoderm can further differentiate into skin and nervous system and some of the pigment cells in our body ; and then the mesoderm , the middle layer , that differentiates into what is most of us by mass and weight , cardiac muscle , our big skeletal muscles , the bone , the smooth muscle , all of our blood , and the blood is an organ , it happens to be a liquid organ that is dispersed through the body ; and then the endoderm .  this is much more limited in volume and in variety , but still very important .  the pancreatic cells , the thyroid cells , the lining of the gut , the lining of the lung and so forth .  it might be worth just a moment , madam speaker , to take a look at our next chart , which kind of puts this in context .  we started out with the zygote , which is the fertilized egg here , and we ended up with the inner cell mass with these three germ layers .  what we show here are all the stages that were omitted in that first chart .  this is one-half , as the little diagram here in the upper left shows , of the reproductive tract of a female .  it shows the ovary on one side and the fallopian tube , with the funnel-like opening here called the infundibulum .  then it shows the fallopian tube on down to the uterus itself .  what it shows , madam speaker , is that fertilization takes place well up in the fallopian tube , and that begins day one .  and then as the egg slowly moves down the tube , it splits first into two cells , then four cells , and then eight cells , and then the larger variety of cells , and finally where you have the inner cell mass and then to the gastrula .  there are two kinds of stem cells , adult stem cells , and those are derivatives of the cells that we showed in the previous chart .  for instance , in the humans we have adult stem cells in our bone marrow .  these are cells which are differentiated to the point that they will produce a limited variety of cells , but still undifferentiated to an extent because these stem cells in the bone marrow can produce red blood cells and polymorphonuclear leukocytes , part of the white blood cells , and the thrombocytes , those are the cells , the platelets as we call them , that are associated with clotting .  and there are a number of adult stem cells similar to that that still retain some of the capability for producing more than just one kind of cell .  we have been working with adult stem cells medically now for more than 3 decades , and there have been a number of medical applications , treatment of humans that have been made with adult stem cells .  but just because they are what they are , madam speaker , a great number of people believe that there should be more potential from the embryonic stem cells simply because they can produce any and all of the tissues of the body .  since we have been working with embryonic stem cells for now just a little over 6 years , we have not had the opportunities for medical applications we have had in adult stem cells , but this does not dim the hopes of the scientific community and the medical community that ultimately there may be more and better applications of embryonic stem cells to treatment of diseases than adult stem cells , simply because of what they are , puripotent cells retaining the ability to produce any and all of the tissues of the body .  it is possible , madam speaker , that this characteristic , which makes them so potentially attractive and exciting , may be uncontrollable .  they may be so bent on dividing that we can not control their division .  they may end up producing tumors and cancer-like growths in the organism in which you put them .  but if that can be controlled , the medical community and the researchers associated with it believe there is potential for enormous applications to medicine of embryonic stem cell research .  we have now had 58 applications of adult stem cells in helping to treat some of the diseases .  what are the diseases that could be treated with stem cells ?  ordinarily , one thinks that the greatest potential for the use of stem cells would result from use in diseases from tissue deficiency rather than diseases that result from some organism , although if there is an infection in the body and a tissue is damaged , there is the hope that it might be replaced with stem cell application .  there are a number of diseases that the scientific community and the general public believe might be amenable to treatment with stem cells , particularly embryonic stem cells .  diabetes is one of those .  this is the most costly disease in our country .  it costs more to treat the diabetics in our country than any other single disease .  i have these come through my office .  particularly heartrending are the little children that come there , 5 and 6 years old some of them , such brittle juvenile diabetics that they have an implanted pump and they have to prick their finger or some part of their body a number of times a day to monitor the glucose level so that just the right amount of insulin can be injected to control this .  this insulin is produced by cells called island of langerhan cells .  dr .  langerhan was the german scientist that described them .  and they look like little eyelets because they are simply distributed through the tissue of the pancreas .  the pancreas is a very large gland at the very beginning of the small intestine that secretes all of the different kinds of digestive enzymes so that fats , carbohydrates , and proteins all are digested using the enzymes secreted by the pancreas .  i have no idea why nature placed the islets of langerhans in the pancreas .  they could be placed anywhere .  with these stem cell applications if we could create islet tissue , they could be placed in the person .  it could be placed in the groin , under their arm , under the skin , anywhere .  it does not have to be in the pancreas .  this islet tissue could then make insulin which would cure diabetes .  when you give insulin to the diabetic , it delays progression of the disease , but it does not cure it .  a person with juvenile diabetes faces the prospect that they probably will have a shortened life , problems with their vision as the vascular bed in the back of the eye breaks down , and they may have problems with circulation in their extremities , particularly in the feet where there is some difficulty getting blood back uphill to the heart .  as many people in this country know through relatives and friends , this results frequently in sores that do not heal and results in gangrene , so the toes or a foot may need to be taken off .  diabetes is one of the diseases that is very attractive as a potential for use of stem cells , because if we could just produce islet tissue , we could cure diabetes , the most expensive disease that we have .  another disease is multiple sclerosis , and if impaired cells could be replaced through stem cell therapy , then the person could walk again .  lou gehrig 's disease , i remember my grandmother was tripping and falling , and they did not know why .  it took them quite awhile back , this was a number of years ago , to determine she had lou gehrig 's disease .  i remember as a teenager going to her bedside .  she was maintained in the home .  she slowly deteriorated , losing first one muscle function and then another .  finally , at the end , the only muscle function she had remaining was the ability to blink her eyes .  it was once for yes and two for no , as i remember .  she could not swallow and had indicated she did not want to be force fed and ultimately she died from starvation with this disease .  well , anybody who has a friend or a relative that has gone through that kind of experience has to be enthusiastic about the potential for stem cell therapy .  this was a number of years ago , but if it were tomorrow or the day after tomorrow figuratively , maybe there could be stem cell therapy for my grandmother , and she would not have to have died at the relatively young age she died at .  alzheimer 's disease is another one .  president reagan died from alzheimer 's disease .  victims do not even recognize their favorite loved ones , have no memory and may wander outside and wander off .  there is a whole category of autoimmune diseases .  i have a paper which lists 63 of the autoimmune diseases .  by that , i mean a disease where the body gets confused as to what is the body and what is not the body .  when we are developing as embryos in our mother 's womb , there are certain cells in our circulatory system called t-cells located in the lymphatic tissue , and the t-cells are imprinted with who we are because once we get out of the mother 's womb , we are going to be in a hostile environment , exposed to bacteria and viruses , and so it is important that the body knows what it is so the defense mechanisms in the body can be marshaled to eject the intruder .  these t-cells identify what is you and what is not you , and they alert some of the specialized cells in our white blood cell system so they are attracted to the site , and they eject , they may consume , they eject the intruder .  there are 63 distinct autoimmune diseases .  for some reason , the body gets confused and the autoimmune system gets confused and starts attacking your joints , for instance .  we know that disease as arthritis .  i remember my first real introduction to this big list of autoimmune diseases was a secretary i had , a very vibrant young lady whose life was really , really changed because she had lupus .  there are many americans who have family or friends who have lupus , and lupus was one of the first autoimmune diseases that was discovered .  there is a controversy going on over the potential for embryonic stem cell medical applications and adult stem cell medical applications .  we have been working for more than 3 decades with adult stem cells , and our very able medical scientific community has been able to develop a number of applications that can cure or at least lessen the severity of disease using adult stem cells .  since we have been working with embryonic stem cells for only a brief period of time , we do not have any direct applications to medicine of embryonic stem cell therapy , but that does not dim the enthusiasm of the medical community because they believe that the potential there ought to be greater .  but the real problem here is that up until this time the only way that we can get embryonic stem cells is to destroy the embryo .  the scientists go into the inner cell mass stage .  that is this stage here , day five .  of course , what we are doing now in the laboratory is not done in the uterus .  all of this is done in a petri dish .  the in vitro is in glass .  in vivo means life .  the embryo is destroyed at the inner cell mass stage , and cells are taken to produce a stem cell line .  about 4 years ago , this produced a real dilemma for the president who , like all of us , has family and friends who have one or more of these diseases that could be potentially ameliorated or cured by embryonic stem cell application .  yet the president knew the only way we were presently getting embryonic stem cell lines was by destroying embryos .  he , as i am , is a strong pro-life advocate and the president had a problem with taking one life because that embryo produced in the laboratory in surplus and in vitro fertilization had the potential when implanted in a receptive mother to become a baby and the president 's problem was that he had a moral problem with taking one life with the hope of helping another .  while the president was wrestling with this problem and what to do about it , there was a briefing at the national institutes of health for members of the congress and for their staff .  i went out there to that briefing .  as the next chart shows , when we were talking about the potential for embryonic stem cell lines , i remembered my training of more than 50 years ago when i got my doctorate at the university of maryland and had a course in advanced embryology and then went on to teach medical school for 4 years and postgraduate medicine doing basic research at the national institutes of health .  i remembered what everybody knows , because they had the course in advanced embryology it was in my mind , that whenever we have identical twins what has really happened is that half of the cells have been taken from the early embryo .  the half that is taken becomes a perfectly normal baby , and the half that is left becomes a perfectly normal baby .  madam speaker , one is a clone .  when one thinks about cloning , remember that mother nature or god , to whomever you want to subscribe it , has been cloning for a very long time .  now these early embryos can split either at the two-cell stage or at the inner cell mass stage or anywhere in between , presumably .  we know at least at those two extremes because we can tell by how they present at birth when they split .  if they share an amnion , they split at the two cell stage .  if they have separate amnions , they probably split at the inner cell mass stage .  so knowing that half of the cells could be taken away from an early embryo without harming the embryo , unless you think identical twins are somehow deficient , and i have talked with a number of identical twins , and i have not talked with any of them who thought they were less a person or deficient because half of the cells were taken away to produce the other identical twin .  it occurred to me that you ought to be able to take cells from an early embryo without hurting the embryo to develop a stem cell line from that early embryo .  i mentioned this to the researchers at nih , and they said , yes , that is theoretically possible to do that .  just after that , i was at an event and the president was there and when i went through the line , i mentioned my visit at nih and the response that they had given to my question .  a few days later , i had a call from carl rove and the president had turned the pursuit of this suggestion over to carl rove .  carl told me that he talked to the people at nih , and they tell me what you have suggested is not possible .  carl , i said either they are funning you or they misunderstand you , because these are the same people that can take a single cell and take the nucleus out of that cell and put another nucleus in it .  that is what they did with dolly the sheep and the large number of clones that have been produced since then .  i said , of course , if they can take the nucleus out of a cell and put another nucleus in it , they can certainly take a cell or two out of what is a relatively big embryo .  so he went back and asked them again and then called back and said they are still telling me they can not do that .  so a few days later , the president came out with his executive order .  madam speaker , you may remember this was kind of a decision like solomon might have made .  obviously , from the potential efficacy of embryonic stem cell research and medical applications , it is very desirable that we do that .  on the other hand , if the only way to get embryonic stem cells is by destroying an embryo , then you are left with the quandary of , is it really acceptable to destroy one life with the hope that you are going to help another ?  so the president came to a decision that i think represented great wisdom .  he recognized that a number of embryos had already been killed , destroyed to establish stem cell lines , and since you can not turn back the hands of time to change that , these embryos were gone , the stem cell lines were there , and so the president , recognizing the potential for embryonic stem cell research , and being concerned that you should not take one life with the hope of helping another , wisely i think , said we could spend federal dollars on any exploration we chose with the existing stem cells lines , and he thought there were about 60 .  there have never been 60 , but he was told there were something like 60 stem cell lines , and federal dollars could be used for research on those lines , but no federal dollars could be used for developing or destroying any additional embryos for stem cell lines .  this was about 4 years ago , and as we knew , the scientific community knew , as i knew because of my background , these stem cell lines would eventually run out .  stem cell lines , like people , age .  for reasons that we may not understand , they do not last forever .  those stem cell lines , madam speaker , are running out .  we now have , i think the accepted figure is 22 stem cell lines left , and all of these are contaminated with mouse feeder cells .  this is the result of a technique which is used to facilitate the replication of these cells in the tissue culture , and they are now all contaminated with mouse feeder cells so that although they are perfectly good for research and a lot of research is being done , they are not good for medical application because you would not want to put the cells contaminated with mouse feeder cells in a human .  so what now ?  one of the potential solutions to this problem is included in h.r. 810 , the castle-degette bill ; and the argument made in this bill is that there are about 400 , 000 surplus embryos out there from in vitro fertilization .  you see , to make sure that the doctor is going to have a good embryo or two or three to implant in a mother , because they do not all take , he will produce more embryos than he will probably need .  then he will look at them under the microscope and pick the strongest looking of those embryos and may put two or three or so in the mother .  one of our members , the rohrabachers , are now the proud parents of triplets from in vitro fertilization .  all of them grew and so they are now the proud parents of these very happy and healthy little babies .  since there are 400 , 000 surplus embryos out there that are frozen , the argument is , and this is the argument of the bill , that since these embryos , at least many of these embryos , realistically most of these embryos will ultimately be discarded , they will not stay frozen for 49 years there , they will not last forever , and by and by they will be discarded , and so the argument is , why should medicine not benefit from cells , from embryos that are going to be discarded anyhow ?  that to many people is a compelling argument .  it was a compelling argument to a majority of people in the house , and now they are considering this bill in the senate .  but to those in the pro-life community , there is another way of looking at these embryos .  i am at the microscope and there is an embryo under the microscope there .  that embryo could become a snowflake baby .  more than 100 times parents who do not have an ovum , can not get pregnant any other way , have adopted these surplus embryos and we have more than 100 of what we call snowflake babies .  the embryo that i am looking at under the microscope might be adopted and that could be any one of the 400 , 000 embryos , and it might be the next albert einstein .  how could i destroy an embryo that might be adopted and might be the next albert einstein ?  so this is the argument on the other side , which is why the great debate over h.r. 810 .  as a result of a series of discussions with the white house and with a number of the interested groups , we have developed a bill which is called h.r. 3144 , the respect for life pluripotent stem cell act of 2005 .  madam speaker , i will make this short bill a part of the record .  be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the united states of america in congress assembled , & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; section 1. short title. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; this act may be cited as the `` respect for life pluripotent stem cell act of 2005 '' . & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; sec .  2. findings. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; the congress finds as follows : & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; ( 1 ) stem cells may be derived from various sources , including adult tissue , umbilical cord blood , and living human embryos .  the use of cells from embryos has drawn great interest in the scientific community but also raises very serious ethical concerns for many americans , because as practiced today it requires the destruction of human embryos to obtain their cells .  ( 2 ) the president 's council on bioethics in its may 2005 white paper : `` alternative sources of pluripotent stem cells , '' describes several potential methods to derive stem cells like those now derived through the destruction of embryos , but which would not involve doing harm to embryos .  some methods propose to involve embryos in ways that do not harm them , while others propose to reprogram adult cells to produce cells with the capabilities of embryonic stem cells without producing or involving embryos at all. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; ( 3 ) such proposals should be thoroughly tested in animal models before being applied to humans , to establish that they do not involve creating or harming human embryos. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; ( 4 ) several scientific reports also suggest that some subclasses of adult stem cells ( derived from postnatal tissues , umbilical cord blood and placenta ) show a flexibility comparable to that of stem cells now derived through the destruction of embryos. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; ( 5 ) american scientists should be encouraged to pursue all ethical avenues of stem cell research and to explore morally uncontroversial alternatives to research requiring the destruction of human embryos. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; sec .  3. derivation of stem cells without harming embryos ; research through national institutes of health. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; part b of title iv of the public health service act ( 42 u.s.c 284 ) is amended by adding at the end the following : & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; '' sec .  409j. basic and applied research on derivation and use of pluripotent stem cells without harming embryos. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( a ) definitions. -- in this section , the following definitions apply : & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 1 ) human embryo. -- the term `human embryo ' includes any organism , not protected as a human subject under 45 cfr 46 as of the date of the enactment of the respect for life pluripotent stem cell act of 2005 , that is derived by fertilization , parthenogenesis , cloning , or any other means from one or more human gametes or human diploid cells. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 2 ) pluripotent stem cell. -- the term `pluripotent stem cell ' means a cell that can in principle be differentiated to produce all or almost all the cell types of the human body , and therefore has the same functional capacity as an embryonic stem cell , regardless of whether it has the same origin. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( b ) in general. -- with respect to producing stem cell lines for important biomedical research , the director of nih shall , through the appropriate national research institutes , provide for the conduct and support of basic and applied research in isolating , deriving and using pluripotent stem cells without creating or harming human embryos .  such research may include -- & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 1 ) research in animals to develop and test techniques for deriving cells from embryos without doing harm to those embryos ; & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 2 ) research to develop and test techniques for producing human pluripotent stem cells without creating or making use of embryos ; and & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 3 ) research to isolate , develop and test pluripotent stem cells from postnatal tissues , umbilical cord blood , and placenta. & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( c ) prohibitions regarding harm to human embryos. -- research under subsection ( b ) may not include any research that -- & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 1 ) involves the use of human embryos ; or & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 2 ) involves the use of stem cells not otherwise eligible for funding by the national institutes of health ; or & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 3 ) involves the use of any stem cell to create or to attempt to create a human embryo , or & lt ; p & gt ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; & amp ; nbsp ; `` ( 4 ) poses a significant risk of creating a human embryo by any means .  `` ( d ) authorization of appropriations. -- for the purpose of carrying out this section , there are authorized to be appropriated $ 15 , 000 , 000 in fiscal year 2006 , and such sums as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2007 through 2010 .  such authorization is in addition to other authorizations of appropriations that are available for such purpose. '' . & lt ; p & gt ; madam speaker , the gentleman from georgia ( mr. gingrey )  has joined us .  i would like to yield to him before i go through the history of how we got to this bill and the people we talked to and exactly what is in the bill .  i thank the gentleman for joining us .  