ASCB Testifies on Cloning Rudolf Jaenisch of
the Whitehead Institute and MIT
testified for the ASCB this month before
the Senate Commerce Science and
Transportation Subcommittee on
Science, Technology and Space.
The hearing consid- ered recent
legislation introduced by Senator Sam
Brownback (R-KS) to prohibit reproduc- tive
and therapeutic human cloning. Jaenisch
reaffirmed the Society’s oppo- sition to
the cloning of a human being, but testified
that an indiscriminate ban on hu- man
cloning would hinder critical research in
embryonic stem cells. For a complete
tran- script
of the testimony, see
www.ascb.org/ pubpol/clone.htm.
n n Budget Plans Pass Both Houses Senate Includes
Substantial Increases for NIH and NSF Both the House and Senate have passed a budget for FY 2002. The
House bill would fund the NIH at $23.1
billion, a $2.8 billion, 13.8 % increase over FY 2001, largely consistent with the President’s recommenda- tion. For the NSF, the House recommended $4.472 bil- lion, a $56.1 million,
1.3% increase over FY
2001. The Senate’s recommen-
dation initially tracked the House’s, but when the bill came to the floor, amend-
ments were passed to sig- nificantly amplify the in-
creases for both agencies. Both Houses must now negotiate the differences between their bills
for a final vote. While the budget resolu-
tion is not binding on the Congress, it is
important because it determines the bud-
gets for each Appropriations Committee.
The Senate amendment, offered by Sena-
tors Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin
(D-IA), Chairman and Ranking Member re-
spectively of the Senate Labor, Health
& Human Services Appropriations
Commit- tee, adds $700 million to the
health func- tion of the resolution, which
includes the NIH. The amendment passed 96 –
4, dem- onstrating strong
bipartisan support for medical research. The additional funding, if included in the final bill, will allow ap-
propriators to increase their allotment for
the Institutes by as much as $3.4 billion,
P U B L I C
P O L I C Y
B R I E F I N G May 2001 CONTINUE
9 The Senate’s recommen- dation initially
tracked the
House’s, but when the bill came to the floor,
amendments were passed to
significantly amplify the increases for both agencies. Above: Rudolf Jaenisch testifies for the
ASCB before the
Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space. William Kristol is in
foreground. Below: Subcommittee
members Sen. Byron
Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) listen intently to
Jaenisch’s testimony.