While I’ve long since dropped any hope of Congress doing much of anything in a timely fashion, yesterday Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania introduced legislation that would put into law current National Institutes of Health (NIH) policies regarding embryonic stem cell research (H/T ScienceInsider). The bill is relatively short, and would address the concerns related to the Dickey-Wicker Amendment by exempting embryonic stem cell research from that law.
Depending on when such a law was passed and signed, it would either render the current lawsuit against the NIH stem cell funding moot or reverse it, should the case be found in favor of the plaintiffs prior to this legislation passing. As legislation would essentially have to start over with the next Congress in January, if this bill were to be effective, it would need to move quickly. The likely sponsor of comparable House legislation is Representative Diana DeGette of Colorado. Her bill, H.R. 4808, is very similar to that of Senator Specter and was introduced in March of this year.
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