mr. speaker , i rise today in strong support of this important bill .  i have met with constituents with afflictions such as alzheimer 's disease , parkinson 's disease , childhood leukemia , heart disease , lou gehrig 's disease , diabetes , several cancers , spinal cord injuries , and other diseases , disorders and injuries .  embryonic stem cell research offers them hope .  i have also met with an amazing young woman named brooke ellison from long island .  in 1990 , when she was eleven years old , brooke was hit by a car , which left her paralyzed from the neck down .  even with this hardship , she graduated from harvard university in 2000 , harvard 's kennedy school of government in 2004 , and she is currently a ph.d .  candidate in political science at stony brook university .  her inspiring story was made into a movie on a & amp ; e and was directed by the late christopher reeves .  i have worked with her to raise public awareness of the importance of stem cell research , and under the unanimous consent agreement , i am including an essay that brooke wrote on the issue in the congressional record .  as everyone here knows , on august 9 , 2001 , president bush announced that embryonic stem cell research would be limited ; he limited federal funds by limiting eligible lines for research .  although scientists were expecting a big number of available lines , less than one third of the allowed 78 lines are available for distribution .  the stem cell research enhancement act would expand research on embryonic stem cells by increasing the number of lines stem cells that would be eligible for federally funded research .  this bill should not be controversial .  the bill ensures that strict ethical guidelines would be met : the embryos would have been donated with informed written consent and without any financial payment or other inducement to make the donation .  these are embryos that will be discarded .  finally , the bill would not use any federal funds to derive the stem cells .  it is a good bill , but i wish this bill went further .  there is still a need for other funding , because state or private funding would be needed to fund deriving the stem cells .  california and new jersey have already set up funding sources for embryonic stem cell research , and a number of other states have announced intentions to fund this research .  we must ensure that all entities can work together .  scientists still need funding for the aspects of research that the federal government will not cover .  today , i am introducing a resolution that expresses the sense of congress that the federal government should not infringe on states or private organizations that fund embryonic stem cell research .  i hope that my colleagues will show support for all embryonic research , by supporting my resolution .  many of us have family members suffering from devastating illnesses , and the prospect of helping them to be healthy and free of pain is a worthy goal .  make no mistake ; this goal is what we are debating today .  enticingly close ... ..  yet painfully far the ability to view the world through another 's eyes is the essence of altruism .  when putting their pens to the paper of policy , those who legislate ought to take into keen consideration the world as it is seen through others ' eyes , wrought with the problems they face and conditions they endure .  this is the basic tenet of a representative democracy , the basic belief upon which the united states was founded .  yet , despite this underlying and widely accepted notion of several voices speaking on behalf of many , this does not always appear to be the case and , in fact , those making collective decisions can become inextricably linked to their own , myopic ideology , failing to understand the situations of others or hear their voices .  in september of 1990 , when i was eleven years old , i was hit by a car while walking home from my first day of 7th grade .  that accident left me paralyzed from my neck down and dependent on a ventilator for every breath i take .  living as a person with a physical disability or debilitating disease , each day is a struggle .  tasks that , to others , might seem mundane or be taken for granted are strenuous challenges , sometimes taking long hours instead of mere minutes , causing frustration both from what can not be at present and potential being lost in the future .  when we place our hopes and visions for our world into the hands of those making broad decisions , we do it with the belief that they will act on behalf of our best interest and not on an isolated viewpoint .  to do otherwise is bad policy .  to undermine the interests of a majority of citizens is bad policy .  to ignore the voices and dash the hopes of those most in need is bad policy .  in the context of stem cell research legislation , these are bad policies , yet policies that are being upheld .  this forces millions to wonder things like , `` if i could be freed from the on august 9th , 2001 , from his ranch in crawford , texas , president bush announced that he would significantly limit federal funds to stem cell research , only agreeing to fund research conducted on to stem cell lines already in existence at the time .  according to this limitation , federally supported research could be done on no more than 78 existing genetic cell lines , although even the most optimistic estimates of viable cells were estimated to be far fewer , less than two dozen .  to the delight of some and the grief of others , mr. bush indicated that the use of embryonic cells for medical research was a violation of the sanctity of life , analogous to abortion or euthanasia .  in the president 's own words , `` i worry about a culture that devalues life , and believe as your president i have an important obligation to foster and encourage respect for life in america and throughout the world ... ... .  embryonic stem cell research offers research that holds so much promise for so many now remains unsupported by the federal government .  similar to other issues facing our nation today , the decision of whether or not to fund embryonic stem cell research is now left in the hands of the states , with the legislatures and governors picking up where the u.s. congress and president have left off .  california , with its proposition 71 , has been the most recent state to make substantive progress on the issue , passing a referendum to support research conducted in the state .  california joins new jersey in leading the charge for state-funded stem cell research .  but the cause should not and must not stop there , as two states out of our fifty is simply not enough .  with researchers , scientists , and human lives waiting in the wings for advances , opportunity wasted is opportunity lost .  therapeutic stem cell research , also known as somatic cell nuclear transfer , has the potential to provide cures for a considerable number of neurological and degenerative conditions , including alzheimer 's disease , parkinson 's disease , childhood leukemia , heart disease , als , several different types of cancer , and spinal cord injuries .  in its most basic description , stem cells are the undifferentiated , unspecialized cells that can be extracted from embryos in their earliest stages of development , three to five days after fertilization .  the embryos , known in this initial developmental form as blastocysts , contain only about 30 cells .  importantly , the cells taken from the blastocysts can be well , some have argued , is n't using stem cells just the destruction of one life for the sake of another ?  are n't we simply judging some lives as more important than others ?  to hold such a belief is to view the world in black and white terms , thereby ignoring the much more complex gray areas .  yes , it is possible that , if a blastocyst , from where stems cells are derived , were to be inserted into a womb and allowed to grow for nine months there is the potential a life could be born .  however , that is not the case for any of the blastocysts that yield stem cells that are used for research .  these blastocysts are those that will go unused after in vitro fertilization procedures and will never be used to bring about life .  these blastocysts , which some proclaim represent the sanctity of life , will only be kept in freezers at fertility clinics until they have expired and then will be discarded completely .  under current federal legislation , they are of no use to anybody .  to rob the stem cells of their other potential of life , which is to cure diseases or to help regenerate parts of the body that are not regenerating on their own , is really to devalue life in another , otherwise avoidable way .  well , others have argued , is n't the work done on stem cells just the same as cloning ?  are n't these cells essentially promoting the creation of another person ?  the once almost incomprehensible , futuristic ideas of `` cloning '' and `` body-doubles '' are now considered feasible and fearsome possibilities , and therapeutic stem cell research has been the unwitting victim of the prevalent fears .  orwell 's 1984 has somehow come to life in 2004 , with the speculations made by some of about unintended , science-fiction consequences .  but , the connection between human reproduction and human therapy is a foggy one at best .  the real fear , though , is not the potential of mad scientists reproducing people but the lost potential of sound scientists curing people .  fourteen years ago , i could have never imagined having to advocate for something that could potentially restore for me the very basic aspects of life and humanity .  but , that is something that no one should have to imagine .  science has given medicine more promise than ever before , with the potential to heal and restore people in ways once unfathomable .  stem cells , which would otherwise serve no other purpose , hold the promise of life , not just for the newly born but now for the already living and this opportunity must be seized .  the time is now .  if the federal government chooses not to do it , then the states must tend to it , themselves .  the time has come when we can change the lives of so many , giving to them the fundamental parts of life and dignity .  