President Bush Discusses Stem Cell Research Policy / Video. Creative Commons license: Public Domain. Description: George Bush Discusses Stem Cell Research Policy Date: 7/19/2006 Length: 15.42 minutes Political Video Link: www.politicalvideo.org Link: www.whitehouse.gov THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Congress has just passed and sent to my desk two bills concerning the use of stem cells in biomedical research. These bills illustrate both the promise and perils we face in the age of biotechnology. In this new era, our challenge is to harness the power of science to ease human suffering without sanctioning the practices that violate the dignity of human life. (Applause.) In 2001, I spoke to the American people and set forth a new policy on stem cell research that struck a balance between the needs of science and the demands of conscience. When I took office, there was no federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research. Under the policy I announced five years ago, my administration became the first to make federal funds available for this research, yet only on embryonic stem cell lines derived from embryos that had already been destroyed. My administration has made available more than million for research on these lines. This policy has allowed important research to go forward without using taxpayer funds to encourage the further deliberate destruction of human embryos. One of the bills Congress has passed builds on the progress we have made over the last five …