Carl Levin On Stem Cells

Again, sorry for the long delay in posting. Much is going on here at the end of my senior year.

From A Letter Sent Out To Sen. Carl Levin's Supporters Today

Dear Supporter,

The President's stem cell research policy blocks some of America's best scientists from pursuing the greatest hope for curing debilitating and dreaded diseases. Right now, we have the opportunity to change his mind.

Yesterday the Senate voted resoundingly to lift the President's burdensome restrictions on embryonic stem cell research because we should be helping our scientists, not hindering them.

Embryonic stem cell research is truly a life-giving process because of the extraordinary potential for healing living, breathing human beings with names, faces, and families. It could hold the key to curing diseases that no other research could cure, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease, juvenile diabetes, spinal cord injuries, and many others.

Supporters of stem cell research do not pretend these breakthroughs will be easy or inevitable. But the President's policy makes them far less likely.

Last year, the President used the first - and so far only - veto of his administration to reject this potentially life-giving research. Yesterday the Senate said: We will not give up until we remove the obstacles the President has put in the way of breakthrough cures.

The bill we passed yesterday will remove the President's arbitrary prohibition against using stem cells created after August 21, 2001 and will pave the way for hundreds or thousands of additional stem cell lines to be made available. I was proud to support this bill, and you can read my full remarks from the Senate floor here. The House of Representatives passed similar legislation earlier this year, and it will soon go to the President for his signature or his veto.

I am writing to the President to urge him to sign this bill. If you click here you can co-sign my letter to the President urging him to sign this vital stem cell legislation.

If the President does veto this bill again, please know that Congress will keep trying until we have a president who will sign it. We must not give up the fight for life-saving cures.

All the best,

Carl Levin