KENNEDY, COLLEAGUES CALL ON FRIST TO TAKE UP STEM CELL LEGISLATION HOUSE-PASSED, BIPARTISAN BILL HAS STALLED IN SENATE FOR NEARLY A YEAR

Washington, D.C.— Today Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democratic Leader Harry Reid and Senators Tom Harkin and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) called upon Majority Leader Bill Frist to immediately take up the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act (H.R. 810) in the Senate for a vote. The legislation—designed to expand federal funding for stem cell research—passed the House of Representatives with a broad bipartisan majority on May 24, 2005. Despite bipartisan support for the measure in the Senate, the bill has never been allowed to come to the floor for a vote. The Senators released a letter signed by over 40 members of the Democratic caucus urging Frist to bring the bill up during his “Health Week” next week. “The dreams of millions of patients for a better life have been denied by the Bush Administration’s needless restrictions on stem cell research,” Senator Kennedy said. “We call on the Senate leadership, in the name of the millions of patients who cannot be here to speak for themselves, to schedule a vote on the House-passed bill on stem cell research. We’re here today to say, "The time for delay is over!" The bipartisan Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act would allow federal funding for stem cell research using stem cell lines derived under strict ethical requirements from excess in vitro fertilization embryos, regardless of the date they were derived. Below is the text of the letter signed by over 40 Democrats as well as Senator Kennedy’s prepared remarks at the press event and his prepared floor remarks delivered today.