This week, the House approved H.R. 1, Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act, by a vote of 299 to 128. This measure addresses a host of security issues. H.R. 2, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, passed 315 to 116. The measure would raise the federal wage floor by from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in three steps over 26 months. Also approved by a vote of 253 to 174 was H.R. 3, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. This bill authorizes and directs the federal government to fund embryonic stem cell research. Today, the House passed H.R. 4, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, passed 255 to 170. It requires Medicare to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies on behalf of Medicare Part D beneficiaries.

Handing Over Security?

In their first piece of legislation as the new majority in the House of Representatives, Democrats proposed to shift operation of the successful Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) away from American control and place it under the jurisdiction of the United Nations. Formed by the Bush Administration in 2003 to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the PSI uses diplomacy, intelligence, sanctions, and other tools to stop the trafficking of WMD. It has led to the discovery and dismantling of Libya’s nuclear weapons program as well as efforts by Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan to disseminate WMD technology around the world. In fact, the 9/11 Commission report acknowledged the PSI’s effectiveness and recommended that it be expanded. The Commission did not, however, suggest placing it under control of the United Nations or any other international agency, nor did it suggest that it needed to be authorized by international law.

Our first and foremost responsibility is to protect our citizens. We abrogate that responsibility when we turn such critical security programs over to the United Nations or any other international organization. The day we need permission from the United Nations to keep us safe is a day we will place our country and its citizens at greater risk. That is why I fought with my House Republicans colleagues to have the PSI transfer language removed from the legislation. Unfortunately, our Motion to Recommit, which would have provided the opportunity to amend the bill, was defeated.

Stem Cell Hope, Angst

Just this week, researchers at Wake Forest University and Harvard University reported that the stem cells they drew from amniotic fluid donated by pregnant women hold much the same promise as embryonic stem cells. Without harming the mother or fetus, they have been able to turn such cells into several different tissue cell types, including brain, liver and bone. According to Dr. George Daley, a Harvard University stem cell researcher, someday expectant parents may be able to freeze amnio stem cells for future tissue replacement in a sick child without fear of immune rejection.

On the heels of this good news, the new leadership of the House ushered passage of a bill that will require American taxpayers to fund research that involves the willful destruction of viable human embryos. Given the new revelation about amnio stem cells and the previously known virtues of umbilical cord blood stem cells and adult stem cells, it is unfortunate that House Democrats insist on spending federal funds on research methods that raise significant ethical concerns for millions of Americans. Fortunately, President Bush has vowed to veto H.R. 3 if it reaches his desk.

Slippery Slope or Sheer Cliff?

Same-sex marriage became legal in Ontario, Canada in 2003. Now, a Canadian court ruled that a five-year-old boy can have three legal parents – two mothers and a father. The Ontario Court of Appeal decided that the “female partner” of the child’s biological mother will legally be considered the “third parent” of the child. Justice Marc Rosenberg, who authored the ruling, stated that, “It is contrary to (the child’s) best interests that he is deprived of the legal recognition of the parentage of one of his mothers.” Let us hope that this is one legal precedent that does not spread southward.