New Congress To Vote Quickly on Federal Funding of Embryo-Killing Research

WASHINGTON (January 4, 2007) -- The leaders of the new Democratic majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate have announced that one of their first priorities will be passage of legislation to mandate federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos.

The House of Representatives is currently expected to take up such legislation (H.R. 3) on Thursday, January 11.

Democratic leaders in the Senate have indicated that they also regard passage of this legislation as a priority.

The text of H.R. 3 is not yet available, but it will be similar or identical to 2006 bill H.R. 810, which President Bush vetoed last July. The previous, Republican-controlled House sustained President Bush's veto. (To view the July 19, 2006, House roll call on sustaining the veto, click here.) The new 110th Congress, which is being sworn in today (January 4), will include more than 60 new lawmakers who were not members when the issue came up last year.

Your help is needed! Please IMMEDIATELY call your representative in the U.S. House, and your two U.S. senators, urging them to oppose federal funding of research that requires the killing of human embryos. Urge other pro-life citizens to do the same.

It is especially important to call lawmakers who were recently elected to Congress for the first time, and who therefore will be voting on this legislation for the first time. But do not take your returning representatives' votes for granted -- they need to hear from you, too, since the biotech industry and other powerful lobbies are working hard to change votes.