According to the Web version of Congressional Quarterly,
Two House members who were the chief backers of legislation to expand embryonic stem cell research are working on a new bill that would codify President Obama’s recent executive order allowing greater federal funding for the research. Their legislation will also contain language allowing the National Institutes of Health to invest in other kinds of research into human cell biology, perhaps including what is known as ‘therapeutic cloning. . .
Rep. Diana DeGette , D-Colo., who is drafting the new stem cell research legislation with Rep. Michael N. Castle , R-Del., said that she does not seek to order the NIH to fund research based on therapeutic cloning. But she hopes to encourage it.
‘I hope the NIH (National Institutes of Health) will allow SCNT (somatic cell nuclear transfer; human cloning) to move forward with federal funding,’ DeGette said. ‘But if they don’t do that right now, what our bill will do is allow them to change that in the future if research shows it is a necessity and can be done ethically.’
HT: Wesley J. Smith at Secondhand Smoke.
