[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 163 (Saturday, December 17, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13960-S13963]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STEM CELL THERAPEUTIC AND RESEARCH ACT
Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the Stem Cell
Therapeutic and Research Act of 2005, which would establish a national
cord blood stem cell bank. This legislation was agreed to last night
during wrap-up under unanimous consent.
I would like to congratulate the majority leader and all parties
involved in yesterday's achievement, which resulted in passage of the
cord blood bill. As you will recall, it was just 2 days ago that the
other side, through the junior Senator from Iowa, reaffirmed their
objections to consideration of this important legislation.
Their objections, it seems, were not substantive as this legislation
has been championed by Members from both sides of the aisle and as
further evidenced by the lifting of objections and
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the cord blood bill passing without any opposition. Passage without any
opposition in the Senate is truly rare. Rather, the other side's
objections were tied to their support for additional funding of highly
controversial destructive human embryonic stem cell research, which
despite sufficient funding and years of research has yet to cure--or
even treat--one human patient yet.
Clearly, the other side wants a vote on their embryonic stem cell
legislation, which requires the destruction of young human lives. On
the other hand, I and many of my colleagues would also like for us to
have an up-or-down vote on the Human Cloning Prohibition Act or the
Human Chimera Prohibition Act, but we have been denied this by the
other side. There will be a time for a vigorous debate on all of these
issues next year, and I look forward to engaging in that debate.
However, ethical, noncontroversial cord blood stem cell research
should not have been made the political football that it was for the
intervening months between House passage of the bill in May and
yesterday's action in the Senate. Once again, I would like to commend
all of my colleagues for depoliticizing the issue of cord blood.
Patients will be benefited almost immediately, and, yes, more kids'
lives will be saved because we passed this bill yesterday, rather than
sometime next year. I applaud the other side for recognizing this fact.
Yesterday, the junior Senator from Iowa took to the floor and
challenged my statement from Thursday evening that ``more kids will die
if we don't take up the cord blood bill.'' I would merely like to spend
a few minutes highlighting the truth of my statement.
Cord blood stem cell research involves the blood from human umbilical
cords. Cord blood contains a high number of pluripotent stem cells; and
it is currently treating real people and saving many lives.
Contemplation of cord blood stem cell's therapeutic power is
something that many in my office are currently contemplating, as at
least five staff members or their spouses are expecting babies right
now. We even thought that one of them was coming a few nights ago, but
it was a false alarm.
Unlike human embryonic stem cells, which require the destruction of
young human beings, umbilical cord blood stem cells are completely
ethical as their derivation and use results in no harm to any human
beings. Cord blood has incredible therapeutic power.
To better harness the power of cord blood, thereby saving more lives,
the cord blood bill that passed last night was essential. While I had
worked closely with Senator Specter in channeling appropriation funds
to establish a national cord blood stem cell bank, without the
authorizing legislation, which we passed last night, these funds did
not have the necessary structure to be effective.
However, should the House send the bill to the President tonight--as
we expect--a structure will go into effect that will immediately begin
collecting cord blood units and making them available to Americans
suffering from a variety of diseases from blood cancers to neurological
diseases. Without the structure that cord blood bill provides, many
fewer patients will benefit and some waiting on cord blood will die.
To highlight this, I will share a few stories of real people who have
been successfully treated with cord blood stem cells.
The first story is of Keone Penn, a young man cured of sickle cell
anemia a disease that afflicts more than 70,000 Americans, particularly
African Americans. Keone, of course, tells his story the best; so
listen to his testimony before a Senate Science Subcommittee hearing
that I chaired on June 12, 2003:
My name is Keone Penn. Two days ago, I turned 17 years old.
Five years ago, they said I wouldn't live to be 17. They said
I'd be dead within 5 years. I was born with sickle cell
anemia. Sickle cell is a very bad disease. I had a stroke
when I was 5 years old. Things got even worse after that. My
life has been full of pain crises, blood transfusions every
two weeks, and more times in the hospital than I can count.
The year before I had my stem cell transplant, I was in the
hospital 13 times. I never was able to have a normal life. My
stem cell transplant was not easy, but I thank God that I'm
still here. I will graduate from high school this year. I
want to become a chef because I love to cook. I think I'm
pretty good at it. Sickle cell is now a part of my past. One
year after my transplant, I was pronounced cured. Stem cells
saved my life.
It is important to realize though that cord blood treats many other
diseases. Consider the story of Erik Haines, who received a successful
cord blood stem cell transplant to treat Krabbe disease. Krabbe disease
is an often fatal neurological disease. This helps to illustrate how
broadly effective cord blood stem cells really are.
Erik Haines made medical history at age 2 when he became one of the
first cord blood transplant patients at the University of Minnesota on
July 24, 1994. Erik had suffered from the genetic blood disorder Krabbe
disease, from which his younger brother Adam died. Since his umbilical
cord blood transplant, annual exams at the University of Minnesota are
not full of foreboding or anxiety; and check-ups with Erik's
pediatrician likewise seem routine. Also, like many boys, Erik enjoys
baseball, soccer, and swimming. Erik's father Paul Haines says:
The only real lasting effects are complications from the
radiation he received--small cataracts. He wears glasses and
has a little trouble seeing the board from the back of the
room.
Both Keone and Erik's treatments took place in the 1990s, and cord
blood stem cell research has made even greater progress since then. We
learn of new, exciting developments every month.
Just 2 weeks ago, we heard about this on local DC television
stations.
On November 30, 2005, two local DC TV stations reported on separate
life saving cures emerging from umbilical cord blood stem cells.
Channel 7 focused on the Korean cord blood stem cell treatment for
spinal cord injury and the procedure's first U.S. patient, a Virginia
woman.
Channel 4 highlighted two children in a local family--Riverdale, MD--
cured of SCIDS--severe combined immune deficiency syndrome--also known
as ``bubble boy disease'' by cord blood from unrelated donors.
And on October 23, 2005, the Chicago Tribune reported:
Cord blood is surprising researchers with previously
unrecognized healing powers that go far beyond its known
effectiveness against childhood leukemia and some other
disorders. Early research in animals suggests that cord blood
may provide a new bounty of cures and treatments for many
other medical conditions, including heart attack, Parkinson's
disease, stroke, Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy,
diabetes, spinal cord injury and amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis . . . In May, the New England Journal of Medicine
published a study showing that a cord blood transplant
performed as soon as possible after birth can, for the first
time, stop the deadly course of Krabbe disease.
There are thousands of testimonies of the efficaciousness of cord
blood stem cells. There are also innumerable new stories and medical
journal articles on amazing advances in disease treatments in real
human patients with cord blood stem cells.
There are more than ample, documented medical articles, on which I
base my claim that because the Senate acted and passed the cord blood
bill this week, more kids' lives will be saved.
As for speculative, destructive, human embryonic stem cell research,
there is not yet even one patient trial with embryonic stem cells for
any disease; and it is not for lack of years of research,
prohibitions--there are none--or lack of funding. It is because
embryonic stem cells form cancers and tumors due to their immature
state. Regarding destructive human embryonic stem cell research, even
the prestigious journal Science acknowledged on June 17, 2005, that:
It is nearly certain that the clinical benefits of the
research are years or decades away. This is a message that
desperate families and patients will not want to hear.
With last night's passage of the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research
Act, the Senate formally recognized the lifesaving value of cord blood
stem cell research. I have worked closely with Senator Specter over the
past few years to appropriate nearly $20 million for the purpose of
establishing a national cord blood bank. And I am proud to be an
original cosponsor of the bipartisan legislation that passed out of
this chamber last night.
I am also proud that we were able to move in a bipartisan manner on
this legislation. Working alongside Senators Hatch, Dodd, Specter,
Harkin, Enzi, and Frist on this issue was a
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pleasure and helps to demonstrate that the two parties can work
together effectively.
Everybody wins with cord blood stem cell research. Patients win
because they receive successful treatments and cures. Human dignity
wins because cord blood stem cell research respects all human life and
does not kill the young human embryo, as is the case with human-
destructive embryonic stem cell research.
Cord blood doesn't just hold promise. Cord blood is producing real
treatments and even real cures for a variety of maladies afflicting
real people right now. Passage of this bill should be celebrated, and I
commend my colleagues for this wonderful achievement.
I yield the floor.
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I want to congratulate Chairman Specter
and Chairman Roberts for their extraordinary work in forging a
conference report on the reauthorization of certain provisions of the
USA PATRIOT Act. I remain disappointed that many concessions were made
to minority members of the conference which not only did not result in
their support of the conference report but which, in my judgment, are
unwise on the merits.
On November 17, I wrote to the conferees identifying some of these
unwise concessions. They included: a three-part test for relevance in
section 215; additional reporting requirements and inspector general
audit provisions; sunsetting the ``lone-wolf'' wolf FISA warrant
provisions; thirty day initial limit on delayed notice search warrants;
applying minimization provisions to subpoenas; and the deletion of
important death penalty provisions which were contained in the House
version.
In my letter, I urged that no further concessions be made. Yet
further concessions were made. These additional concessions include
stripping a criminal penalty of up to 1 year imprisonment for a knowing
and willful violation of the nondisclosure provision of national
security letters. This makes a mockery of the nondisclosure provision
itself.
Despite these significant accommodations which were made in the
interest of bipartisan compromise, I am distressed to learn that, even
now, certain of my colleagues are not only still opposing this bill,
but are urging further delay, further compromise, and further weakening
of the bill. This effort should be soundly rejected by this body.
However, should there be a delay, and the opportunity for additional
changes to the conference report, I will urge that we revisit these
ill-advised concessions already made and that they be deleted from the
bill. That said, I hope that we do not go down that road. I hope that
both sides will rise above our particular preferences for a perfect
bill, and vote for the good of the Nation and its citizens who have
been protected by this historic legislation for the last 5 years.
I am also disappointed that certain of my colleagues have seen fit to
oppose the conference report over a single issue--the appropriate
standard of judicial review of the national security letters
nondisclosure provisions. These opponents would ask courts to assess
potential damage to national security rather than the officials in our
Government in the intelligence and diplomatic community who are the
only ones capable of making such determinations based on all available
intelligence and investigative information.
While I am not pleased with every provision of this final bill, some
of which I have just reviewed, on balance I am satisfied that overall
the final language agreed to represents a reaffirmation of the Nation's
commitment to modernization of our criminal and intelligence
investigative laws and commonsense law enforcement
The USA PATRIOT Act provisions, which Congress wisely passed
following the terrorist attacks on our soil and the callous murder of
innocent civilians, have stood the test of time. The act's provisions
have helped to keep us safe and to protect our liberties which were
jeopardized, not by expanded governmental authority, but by violent
attacks against our way of life by terrorists.
Those who urge further changes and further weakening are, in my
judgment, playing a dangerous political game, intended or not, at the
expense of our national security and our personal liberties--liberties
protected by the commonsense provisions of the PATRIOT Act. Provisions
of the act have been utilized to accomplish amazing victories in the
war on terrorism and to keep us safe and free. Let me highlight just a
few from information provided by the Department of Justice:
The Department of Justice successfully dismantled a Portland, OR,
terror cell known as the ``Portland Seven.'' Members of this terror
cell had attempted to travel to Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 to take up
arms with the Taliban and al-Qaida against United States and coalition
forces fighting there. The USA PATRIOT Act information-sharing
provisions were critical in taking down the Portland cell.
The Department of Justice successfully convicted members of an al-
Qaida cell in Lackawanna, NY, that involved several residents of
Lackawanna who traveled to Afghanistan in 2001 to receive training at
an al-Qaida-affiliated camp near Kandahar. Five of the Lackawanna Six
pleaded guilty to providing material support to al-Qaida, and the sixth
pleaded guilty to conducting transactions unlawfully with al-Qaida.
The USA PATRIOT Act information-sharing and national security letter
provisions were critical to this case.
The Department of Justice successfully prosecuted the so-called
Virginia Jihad case involving members of the Dar al-Arqam Islamic
Center, who trained for jihad in Northern Virginia, including eight
individuals who traveled to terrorist training camps in Pakistan or
Afghanistan between 1999 and 2001. Six of the defendants have pleaded
guilty and three were convicted in March 2004 of charges including
conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to
provide material support to the Taliban. The USA PATRIOT Act was
critical to this case.
In May of 2003, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was arrested after having sought
out and joined an al-Qaida cell in Medina, Saudi Arabia, where he
received training in weapons, explosives, and document forgery. He,
along with other members of the cell, began to develop plans for
several potential terrorist attacks against the United States,
including a plot to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali was recently
convicted in Federal district court.
On November 23, 2005, Uzair Paracha was convicted in New York of all
five counts in an indictment that included charges of conspiracy and
providing material support to al-Qaida. Paracha traveled to the United
States in February 2003 to assist al-Qaida, including posing as a
person Paracha knew to be an al-Qaida associate, obtaining immigration
documents that would permit that al-Qaida member to enter the United
States, and conducting financial transactions involving the al-Qaida
associate's bank accounts.
The Department of Justice also indicted Mohammed Junaid Babar for
material support of al-Qaida after he arranged for a month-long jihadi
training camp, at which attendees received training in basic military
skills, explosives and weapons. Among the attendees were individuals
who were plotting to bomb targets abroad. Babar pleaded guilty to
providing material support, among other charges, and cooperated with
ongoing investigations.
New York defense attorney Lynne Stewart, Mohammed Yousry, and Ahmed
Abdel Sattar were recently convicted by a jury of material support
charges in connection with passing messages to a terrorist
organization, known as the Islamic Group, from Sheik Abdel Rahman, the
Islamic Group's imprisoned leader. Abdel-Rahman is serving a life
sentence plus 65 years for his role in terrorist activities, including
the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Sattar was also convicted
of conspiring to kill persons in a foreign country and for solicitation
of crimes of violence.
On October 24, 2005, the Department of Justice announced the historic
extradition of the notorious Taliban-linked narcoterrorist Baz
Mohammad. Mohammad has been indicted for allegedly manufacturing and
distributing tens of millions of dollars worth of heroin in Afghanistan
and Pakistan. He was closely aligned with the Taliban and other
Islamic-extremist groups in Afghanistan, providing financial support to
the Taliban with proceeds from heroin sales in the United States.
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John Walker Lindh, the ``American Taliban'' captured on the
battlefield in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to supporting the Taliban
and has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. As part of his plea
agreement, Lindh has provided information about training camps and
fighting in Afghanistan.
Another potentially devastating attack was averted when Richard Reid,
the so-called shoe bomber, was foiled in his attempt to detonate a bomb
on American Airlines flight 63 during flight. Reid was charged as a
trained terrorist for this attempted terrorist attack. He pled guilty
to all charges and was sentenced to life imprisonment on January 30,
2003.
The Department of Justice successfully detected and disrupted
sinister plans in Lodi, CA. Hamid Hayat was indicted and charged with
material support to terrorists after he allegedly attended a terrorist
training camp in Pakistan in 2004 and returned to this country with the
intent of committing jihad against America. Additional associates have
been deported and one charged with two counts of lying to Federal
agents.
In United States v. Odeh, a naroterrorism case, investigators used a
court-issued delayed-notice search warrant to search an envelope mailed
to a target of the investigation. The search confirmed that the target
was operating an illegal money exchange to funnel money to the Middle
East, including to an associate of an apparent Islamic Jihad operative
in Israel. The delayed-notice provision allowed investigators to
conduct the search without compromising an ongoing wiretap on the
target and several confederates.
The information sharing between intelligence and law enforcement
personnel made possible by USA PATRIOT Act section 218 was useful in
the investigation of two Yemeni citizens, Mohammed Ali Hasan Al-Moayad
and Mohshen Yahya Zayed, who were charged in 2003 with conspiring to
provide material support to al-Qaida and Hamas. Following their
indictment, Al-Moayad and Zayed were extradited to the United States
from Germany, and both were convicted in March 2005 of conspiring to
provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
The Department of Justice used USA PATRIOT Act section 218 to gain
access to intelligence that facilitated the indictment of Enaam Amaout,
the executive director of the Illinois-based Benevolence International
Foundation, BIF. Arnaout had a long-standing relationship with Osama
bin Laden and used his charity organization both to obtain funds
illicitly from unsuspecting Americans for terrorist organizations, such
as al-Qaida, and to serve as a channel for people to contribute money
knowingly to such groups. Arnaout ultimately pleaded guilty to a
racketeering charge, admitting that he diverted thousands of dollars
from BIF to support Islamic militant groups in Bosnia and Chechnya. He
was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.
The broader information sharing made possible by USA PATRIOT Act
section 218 also assisted the prosecution in San Diego of several
persons involved in an al-Qaida drugs-for-weapons plot, which
culminated in two guilty pleas. Two defendants, Muhamed Abid Afridi and
Ilyas Ali, admitted that they conspired to distribute approximately
five metric tons of hashish and 600 kilograms of heroin originating in
Pakistan to undercover U.S. law enforcement officers. Additionally,
they admitted that they conspired to receive, as partial payment for
the drugs, four Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that they then intended
to sell to the Taliban, an organization they knew at the time to be
affiliated with al-Qaida. Afridi and Ali pleaded guilty to the felony
charges of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and
conspiracy to distribute heroin and hashish. The lead defendant in the
case is currently awaiting trial.
Section 218 of the PATRIOT Act was critical in the successful
prosecution of Khaled Abdel Latif Dumeisi, who was convicted by a jury
in January 2004 of illegally acting as an agent of the former
government of Iraq as well as two counts of perjury. Before the gulf
war, Dumeisi passed information on Iraqi opposition members located in
the United States to officers of the Iraqi Intelligence Service
stationed in the Iraqi mission to the United Nations. During this
investigation, intelligence agents conducting surveillance of Dumeisi
pursuant to FISA coordinated and shared information with law
enforcement agents and prosecutors investigating Dumeisi for possible
criminal violations. Because of this coordination, law enforcement
agents and prosecutors learned from intelligence agents of an
incriminating telephone conversation that took place in April 2003
between Dumeisi and a coconspirator. This phone conversation
corroborated other evidence that Dumeisi was acting as an agent of the
Iraqi government and provided a compelling piece of evidence at his
trial.
The use of cigarette smuggling to fund terrorism has been of grave
concern. On January 23, 2003, in United States v. Akhdar, et al., the
Department of Justice indicted members of an organization that smuggled
low-taxed and untaxed cigarettes from State to State to evade sales
tax. The defendants produced counterfeit tax stamps, obtained
counterfeit credit cards, laundered money, obstructed justice, and
committed arson, and many are suspected of having links to and
financing the terrorist organization Hizballah. As the investigation
has continued, additional indictments have been filed, and many
defendants have pleaded guilty to charges including RICO violations and
material support.
Investigators have also been able to avert potentially devastating
attacks on our children. Ahmed Hassan al-Uqaily, an Iraqi national,
spoke of ``going jihad,'' and arranged to procure pistols, machine
guns, grenades and a ``tank missile,'' while suggesting he might target
several Jewish schools in the Nashville area. An undercover agent
completed the deal, posing as the weapons supplier, and the Iraqi
national agreed to pay $1,000 for two machine guns, ammunition and
inert grenade components. The aspiring terrorist was arrested on
October 7, 2004, and was sentenced on October 24, 2005, to 57 months in
prison.
The PATRIOT Act has kept us free and kept us safe, and is doing so
day in and day out. It is essential that this Congress renew this
historic legislation and I urge my colleagues to support the bill. We
owe no less to the future generations of Americans and the freedom-
loving peoples of the world. The stakes are too high to ignore our
obligation.
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