The legislation would ban "all forms of cloning, including research cloning," Brownback's spokesman Erik Hotmire told United Press International. It is "the same legislation President Bush said he wants to sign into law" during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, Hotmire added.
Under the legislation, scientists who clone a human being would face criminal penalties in the order of 10 years in prison and $1 million dollars in fines, Hotmire said.
Similar legislation was introduced in the House earlier this month. The House passed a total ban on the technology last year but the Senate failed to pass the measure because some members favored allowing therapeutic cloning--or the use of the procedure to produce cells that could lead to treatments for disease. According to the rules of Congress, the legislative process must now start over.
Brownback was scheduled to chair a hearing Wednesday examining the ethics of cloning.
