What is this Amendment:

The Dickey-Wiker Amendment is the name of an appropriation bill rider attached to a bill passed by the United States Congress in 1995, and signed by former President Bill Clinton.

What does the Amendment do:

The Dickey-Wicker Amendment prohibits researchers from using federal funds for:
(1) the creation of a human embryo or embryos for research purposes; or
(2) research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death greater than that allowed for research on fetuses in utero under 45 CFR 46.208(a)(2) and Section 498(b) of the Public Health Service Act [1](42 U.S.C. 289g(b)) (Title 42, Section 289g(b), United States Code).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey-Wicker_Amendment

The current state of stem cell research:
This Amendment has drastically slowed the progress of embryonic stem cell research in this country. Although President Obama issued an executive order in 2009 which lifted the ban President George W. Bush put in place back in 2001, he [Obama] could not overturn the Dickey-Wicker Amendment. Currently, only embryos obtained through ways in which federal funding was not involved [i.e. fertilization treatments] can be used for research purposes.

What would removing the Amendment do:
If the amendment was removed, researchers could create new embryos using federal funding for research purposes.

Possible benefits of the research:
I'm sure many of you know of the possible benefits associated with this kind of research, but for those who don't, here are a just a few of the diseases or ailments that could be treated:
Parkinson's disease
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
spinal cord injury
burns
heart disease
diabetes
arthritis

With such a wide variety diseases that could potentially be cured through stem cell research, why would we do anything to hinder its progress?