Congress may be on its summer vacation, but key Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill are already planning to act quickly to prevent an extended recess on human embryonic stem cell research.

In the wake of a district court judge’s decision to halt all federally-funded embryonic stem cell studies, Democratic congresswoman Diana DeGette (shown right) — who twice co-sponsored legislation to expand researchers’ access to human embryonic stem cell lines only to have the bills vetoed by former President George W. Bush — says she plans to bring back her legislation when Congress convenes again on 14 September. Meanwhile, the Senate’s Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee has scheduled hearings into the stem cell kerfuffle for 16 September.

“This is going to have to be addressed very, very quickly,” DeGette told TPM. “It’s gone up to the top of the list for leadership and it will happen shortly after we get back.”

As we noted in March 2009, just before Obama signed his executive order, many have been calling for such legislation to avoid a mess like the one the stem cell community finds itself in now.

DeGette and her Republican ally, Congressman Michael Castle, had introduced the third iteration of their legislation in March on the one-year anniversary of President Obama’s executive order to lift previous Bush-era restrictions. Earlier, in the Senate, Tom Harkin and Arlen Specter, both Democrats, had reintroduced a similar bill. Both bills, however, are currently stuck in Congressional sub-committees.