Cures Can Be Found Act of 2007

The Cures Can Be Found Act of 2007 is U.S. House of Representatives bill 457 (or H.R. 457) of the first session of the 110th Congress, "to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide credits against income tax for qualified stem cell research, the storage of qualified stem cells, and the donation of umbilical cord blood." The bill was introduced on July 26 2005, as H.R. 3444, to the first session of the 109th Congress (the Cures Can Be Found Act of 2005).

Sponsors
The bill was authored by Representative Ron Paul, Republican of the 14th district of Texas, on July 26 2005. It was cosponsored by Representative Jeff Miller, Republican of Florida, and discussed on July 19 2006. Since its reintroduction to the 110th Congress on January 12 2007, besides these original sponsors, it has attracted the following additional cosponsors:
*Rep. Roscoe Bartlett
*Rep. Michael Burgess
*Rep. Dan Burton
*Rep. George Butterfield
*Rep. William Jefferson
*Rep. Ted Poe
*Rep. Bill Sali
*Rep. Timothy Walberg

Status
This bill has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Purpose
With an income tax credit, the bill favors research upon nonembryonic stem cells (defined as cells obtained from placentas, umbilical cord blood, amniotic fluid, humans after birth, or unborn human offspring who died of natural causes). Opening remarks on the bill were delivered to Congress on July 19 2006.

The author, Ron Paul, has argued that the embryonic category of stem-cell research is outside of federal jurisdiction: "Those engaged in this debate tend to split into warring camps claiming exclusive moral authority to decide the issue once and for all. On one side, those who support the President’s veto tend to argue against embryonic stem cell research, pointing to the individual rights of the embryo being discarded for use in research. On the other hand are those who argue the embryo will be discarded any way, and the research may provide valuable cures for people suffering from terrible illnesses. In Washington, these two camps generally advocate very different policies. The first group wants a federal ban on all such research, while the latter group expects the research to be federally-subsidized. Neither side in this battle seems to consider the morality surrounding the rights of federal taxpayers ...."

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