mr. speaker , i thank the gentlewoman for yielding and want to congratulate the gentleman from delaware ( mr. castle )  and the gentlewoman from colorado ( ms. degette )  for her leadership and his leadership on this bill .  this is , i think , one of the most important bills that we will consider for the welfare of people not only in this country , but throughout the world .  mr. speaker , let us be very clear about what this bipartisan , moderate bill would do and not do .  this legislation , which has 200-plus cosponsors from both sides of the aisle , would not permit federal funding for cloning ; it would not permit federal funding to create embryos , nor would it permit federal funding to destroy embryos .  this important legislation simply expands the current federal policy of allowing federal funding for research on stem cell lines derived after the arbitrary date of august 9 , 2001 , from embryos created for fertility treatment that would otherwise be discarded .  recall that on that date , president bush announced that federal funds would be available to support research on human embryo stem cells so long as such research was limited to existing stem cell lines .  at the time it was believed that 78 stem cell lines were eligible .  yet today , as we know , only 22 such lines are available for research , and these lines are aged , contaminated or developed with outdated research .  meanwhile , there are at least 125 new stem cell lines with substantial potential that federally funded researchers can not use .  thus , mr. speaker , i believe the issue before this house today is this : will we foster embryonic stem cell research , research that holds great promise for the potential treatment or cure of diseases such as als , lou gehrig 's disease , alzheimer 's , parkinson 's , and other diseases , and offer hope to those with spinal cord injury and other injuries of the nervous system , or will we stand in the way ?  i know that the opponents of this bill believe that we are ignoring the ethical and moral implications of such research .  i do not share that view .  but , in fact , this legislation requires the department of health and human services and the national institutes of health to issue guidelines for ethical considerations ; it requires a determination that the embryos would never have been implanted and would have been discarded ; and it requires the donor 's written , informed consent .  mr. speaker , i realize this is a difficult issue for many .  it is , however , i think , an issue that the american people have made a judgment on .  it is an issue which they , i think , overwhelmingly support .  the polls seem to reflect that at least 60 percent of the americans asked the question support this important effort .  they believe it holds promise for them , for their spouses , for their children .  we have talked much about life on this floor .  it is important that we do so .  it is important that we do so in a thoughtful and principled way .  i believe that this moderate , well-thought-out , carefully constructed bill takes a step that america expects us to take .  this is the people 's house .  i believe the people would have us pass this legislation , and i urge my colleagues to vote accordingly .  