[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 137 (Monday, October 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H9438-H9440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 ADDITIONAL LEAVE TIME FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYEES WHO SERVE AS ORGAN DONORS

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2943) to amend title 5, United States Code, to increase the 
amount of leave time available to a Federal employee in any year in 
connection with serving as an organ donor, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2943

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. INCREASED LEAVE TIME TO SERVE AS AN ORGAN DONOR.

       (a) In General.--Subsection (b) of the first section 6327 
     of title 5, United States Code (relating to absence in 
     connection with serving as a bone-marrow or organ donor) is 
     amended to read as follows:
       ``(b) An employee may, in any calendar year, use--
       ``(1) not to exceed 7 days of leave under this section to 
     serve as a bone-marrow donor; and
       ``(2) not to exceed 30 days of leave under this section to 
     serve as an organ donor.''.
       (b) Technical Amendments.--(1) The second section 6327 of 
     title 5, United States Code (relating to absence in 
     connection with funerals of fellow Federal law enforcement 
     officers) is redesignated as section 6328.
       (2) The table of sections at the beginning of chapter 63 of 
     title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding after the 
     item relating to section 6327 the following:
``6328. Absence in connection with funerals of fellow Federal law 
              enforcement officers.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella).


                             General Leave

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks on the bill, H.R. 2943.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Maryland?
  There was no objection.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Cummings), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Civil Service, for 
introducing this very important bill.
  I also want to include my thanks to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Mica), chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Service. I also want to 
thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), chairman of the 
Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Waxman), the ranking member, for helping us bring this 
bill to the floor today. It is a very important piece of legislation, 
and I am proud to be a cosponsor of it with the gentleman from Maryland 
(Mr. Cummings) as lead sponsor.
  Mr. Speaker, thousands of Americans die every year and thousands more 
suffer unnecessarily because of the current shortage of transplantable 
organs and tissues. Kidneys are the most needed organs for 
transplantation, accounting for 69 percent of all organ waiting list 
registrations.
  While the 7 days Federal law currently allows for recovery from bone 
marrow donation is adequate, recovery periods for kidney donations run 
much longer. We must avoid situations where our leave policies deter 
people from donating organs.
  Through this legislation, the Federal Government will become a leader 
in encouraging individuals to perform the valuable public service of 
donating organs. Specifically, this legislation will enable those 
Federal employees who want to donate an organ to do so with the 
assurance that the Federal Government will give them an adequate amount 
of time to recuperate from the important life saving procedure they 
voluntarily undergo.
  This legislation serves as a guide for other employees throughout our 
country to provide similar benefits to those individuals who undertake 
this important public service.
  I want to encourage my colleagues to join me in wholeheartedly and 
enthusiastically supporting this legislation to help Federal employees 
and agencies meet this important health care need.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I first want to take a moment to thank the gentleman 
from Indiana (Mr. Burton), the chairman of the committee, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Waxman), our ranking member, and particularly the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) who is our ranking subcommittee 
chairman for the cooperation they gave me in making sure that this bill 
came to the floor today. I really thank them.
  I also thank our entire subcommittee which worked very cooperatively 
in a bipartisan spirit to make this bill happen.
  Mr. Speaker, in the last 20 years, important medical breakthroughs 
such as tissue typing and new drug therapy have allowed for a larger 
number of successful organ transplants and a longer survival rate for 
transplant recipients. Certain organs such as single kidney, a lobe of 
a lung, a segment of the liver, or a portion of the pancreas can be 
transplanted from living donors, making it possible for them to save 
lives of family members, coworkers, and friends, and thus bring life to 
life.
  I introduced H.R. 2943 because it supports Federal employees who make 
the life saving decision to become living organ or bone marrow donors 
by granting them additional time to recover from making a donation.
  This bill also has the support of the American Society of Transplant 
Physicians, the largest professional transplant organization in the 
United States. In a letter expressing their support for the bill, the 
ASTP stated, and I quote, ``A lack of leave time has served as a 
significant impediment and disincentive for individuals willing to 
share the gift of life.''
  Currently, Federal employees make use of up to 7 days of leave in 
each calendar year to serve as an organ or bone marrow donor. Yet, 
experience has shown that an organ transplant operation and 
postoperative recovery for living donors may take as long as 6 to 8 
weeks.
  In order to address this disparity, I worked with the Office of 
Personnel Management and the Department of Health and Human Services in 
drafting this legislation to increase the amount of leave that may be 
used for organ donation to 30 days. The amount of leave that may be 
used for bone marrow donation will remain at 7 days because that is 
generally adequate for bone marrow donations.
  Under this legislation, donors will not have to be concerned with 
using their personal sick or annual leave for these vital medical 
procedures because the leave granted is an addition to what they 
routinely earn.
  Since the first kidney transplant in 1954, hundreds of patients have 
received successful transplants from living donors. Yet, each day, 
while 55 people receive an organ transplant, another 10 people on the 
waiting list die because not enough organs are available.
  A new name is added to a waiting list every 18 minutes in the United 
States. Last year, only 15,000 people donated, leaving 35,000 people 
desperately in need. Currently, over 58,000 are waiting for a life 
saving organ transplant.
  One lung can help another person breathe. One kidney can free someone 
from dialysis. A portion of a liver could save the life of a patient 
dying from disease. One's bone marrow could help repair another 
person's damaged joints. Every year, Federal employees donate one of 
these organs to save a life.
  This legislation will give Federal employees who may consider 
becoming organ donors the assurance that they will be granted an 
adequate amount of time to recuperate from the life saving process they 
voluntarily undertake. It will also serve as a guide and encouragement 
to other employers, public and private, to provide a similar benefit to 
their employees.
  Ultimately, this bill will benefit the 58,000 people who are on the 
organ transplant waiting list. As I said earlier, this is a piece of 
legislation which will bring life to life. I urge all Members to give 
it their support.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I have no other requests for time, and I 
continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I very much thank the gentleman for yielding 
to me.

[[Page H9439]]

  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bill of the gentleman 
from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), and I rise also to thank the gentleman 
for this innovative and important piece of legislation and to 
compliment him and the gentlewoman from Maryland on the third bill of 
this particular session of the House. It shows a very productive 
commitment to Federal employees.
  We are now awash in life saving techniques, but we have not learned 
how to get maximum use out of them or to assure equality in their 
distribution. The bone marrow provision that allows 7 days' leave 
appears to be appropriate; but when it comes to an organ transplant, we 
are dealing with an operation that itself is a high risk operation.
  If we really want to encourage people to donate organs such as 
kidneys, where the need is greatest, we are going to have to move to 
provide a greater incentive. One thing we ought to do is to assure 
persons generous enough to offer an organ that there would be the 
minimum risk to the person who has stepped forward.
  If that person is a Federal employee, the last thing we would want 
the employee to think is that I do not have very much time that I 
should take, so I better rush back. The 30-day incentive is important 
to finally getting people to understand that offering these organs is a 
very important act of generosity.
  In today's paper, it may have been yesterday's paper, is a story of a 
husband and a wife. The husband is donating the kidney to the wife, or 
vice versa. I forget which. It does not really matter. What does matter 
is that the odds are tremendously against, I think it is 1 in 25,000, 
that a husband and a wife would be married, these people are not kin, 
and would match in a vital organ.
  The spouse that was receiving the organ did not want the other spouse 
to give the organ, and the reason simply is that there is a risk in 
undergoing a major operation to give a healthy organ to someone who has 
an unhealthy organ.
  Anything we can do to encourage what is already a process underused 
is something we ought to move forward to do. It is astonishing how few 
organs are available given the number of organs that should be 
available.
  The incentive that the bill of the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Cummings) offers today is akin to the leadership the Federal Government 
has always taken with respect to blood donations. Blood donations are 
allowed on the premises. We allow the Red Cross to set up on our 
premises. We allow employees to go down on government time because we 
recognize how important it is to donate blood.
  Today we have moved from blood to other vital life giving substances 
and organs, sharing not only blood, but we now can share vital organs. 
This is a very small loss in productivity or time to the government. 
Particularly what it offers is life and hope.

                              {time}  1515

  This is a model that I expect certainly large employers around the 
country to follow.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the important breakthrough 
that the Cummings bill provides.
  (Mr. CUMMINGS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks and include extraneous material.)
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, just today there was an article in the Washington Post 
about a woman named Nancy Nearing who, along with her husband, Steve, 
made a very critical decision, and that was to donate an organ to her 
boss, whose name is Art Helms. This took place back on September 10. I 
am very pleased to say that Ms. Nearing and Mr. Helms are doing fine.
  These were two people that were contractors for the Federal Trade 
Commission. This is the kind of legislation that, if it were effective 
for contractors and these types of Federal agents, would truly benefit 
them.
  I think that as we move forward with this legislation, as I know that 
the Members of the House will agree with me, it is so wonderful to know 
that out of the 3,665 living organ transplants taking place per year, 
there were only 153 who were not family members, and Mrs. Nearing and 
Mr. Helms participated as one of the 153.
  So we say to them as a Congress as we discuss this legislation, we 
thank them for that spirit, and just as they had the spirit, as Mrs. 
Nearing and her husband Steve had that wonderful spirit to give life to 
life, that hopefully this legislation will cause others to look at the 
situation with regard to organ transplantation and do similar acts of 
courage.
  Finally, I would like to take a moment to again thank the gentlewoman 
from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), 
and all of those who have taken part in making sure that this 
legislation came to the floor.
  I would also like to take a moment to thank former staffer John 
Alexander who worked very hard on this legislation; Ms. Tanya Shaff of 
my staff, and Kimberly Braves and Kimberly Miller, all working hard to 
try to make a difference in people's lives. I do believe, Mr. Speaker, 
that this legislation will touch the lives of many and make their lives 
better.
  As I have often said, we only have one life to live. This is no dress 
rehearsal and this so happens to be that life.
  Mr. Speaker, at this time I include for the Record a letter from John 
F. Neylan, President of the American Society of Transplant Physicians.
                                               American Society of


                                        Transplant Physicians,

                                   Thorofare, NJ, October 1, 1998.
     Hon. Elijah E. Cummings,
     House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Cummings: The American Society of 
     Transplant Physicians (ASTP) commends you for your continuing 
     efforts to improve our nation's system for organ donation and 
     transplantation. The ASTP is the largest professional 
     transplant organization in the United States and represents 
     over 1,200 physicians, surgeons and scientists. During the 
     last few years, the Society has greatly appreciated the 
     opportunity to work with you and your staff in addressing 
     many important organ transplantation issues.
       The ASTP applauds your most recent efforts to improve organ 
     donation by introducing legislation, H.R. 2943, to increase 
     the amount of leave time available to Federal employees 
     serving as organ donors. In the past, a lack of leave time 
     has served as a significant impediment and disincentive for 
     individuals willing to share the gift-of-life. The provision 
     in your legislation allowing for 30 days of paid leave 
     following an organ donation is a very positive first-step in 
     addressing this issue. We look forward to working with you in 
     the 106th Congress to further expand upon this initial policy 
     to provide appropriate leave times for living donors.
       As we have discussed in the past, the problems that our 
     nation faces in the allocation of organs and tissues for 
     transplantation, a precious and scarce resource, are complex, 
     and continue to evolve from both a medical and policy 
     perspective. However, the real answer to dealing with the 
     dilemma of allocating and distributing an inadequate supply 
     of organs is through efforts such as yours to increase 
     donation.
       On behalf of the thousands of U.S. patients currently 
     awaiting organ transplants, we commend you for your 
     leadership in this area. In addition, we look forward to 
     continuing to work with you in the future to improve the 
     field of transplantation medicine.
           Sincerely,
                                                   John F. Neylan,
                                                        President.

  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of the Members of the House to vote in favor 
of this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  I thank the gentleman for his eloquent statement, but even more than 
that, for introducing the bill which I am proud to support and 
cosponsor.
  There is just no doubt that we hope that this bill will encourage 
Federal employees to recognize the importance of organ donation and 
will indeed give, as has been mentioned, a gift of life to the 
recipients. I urge strong passage by our colleagues of this bill.
  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join with my colleagues today 
in support of organ donations. As we all know, organs are a gift of 
life for too many people.
  This bill today will give federal employees the extra time they need 
to be organ donors. It is an excellent idea and one that I hope we all 
will pass and support.
  I would like to take a minute to discuss a bill that I have 
introduced to help increase the number of available organs for 
transplants. H.R. 1605, the Gift of Life Congressional Medal Act will 
provide recognition for those families who have chosen to make the 
ultimate gift.
  The enactment of this legislation, which doesn't cost taxpayers a 
penny, will not only honor the individual organ donor and their loved 
ones, but will also heighten the awareness of the organ shortage--
ultimately resulting in more organ donation.

[[Page H9440]]

  There is a major under-supply of available and suitable organ donors.
  Currently, there are 50,000 individuals waiting for an organ 
transplant in the United States. The number of people on the list has 
more than doubled since 1990 and a new name is added to the national 
patient waiting list approximately every 18 minutes. Despite the 
numerous problems that organ donation programs have faced and conquered 
over the years, a major problem still exists.
  The demand for organs will continue to grow with the improvement of 
medical technologies. Without expanded efforts to increase the supply 
of organ donations, the supply of suitable organs will continue to lag 
behind the need.
  For the many would-be organ recipients, the consequence of shortage 
is death. It is clear that expanded efforts are necessary in order to 
increase the number of organ donors.
  According to some researchers, it may be possible to increase by 80 
percent the number of organ donations in the United States through 
incentive programs and public education. A Congressional medal 
recognizing donors and their families can play a very important and 
effective role in our efforts to encourage such donation.
  Our proposed Gift of Life Medal Program will be administered by the 
regional organ procurement organizations (OPOs) and managed by the 
entity administering the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. 
Once the decision to donate an organ has been made, the donor or the 
family member of the donor will be asked by the regional OPO whether 
participation in the Gift of Life Medal Program is desired.
  The OPO will give each donor or family member the option of receiving 
a Gift of Life Medal, recognizing that some may not want to 
participate. If requested, a public presentation will be made to honor 
the donor. A presentation by a local official, community leader or 
Member of Congress would be a tremendous opportunity to increase the 
awareness concerning the desperate need for organ donation.
  Every action has been taken to insure that the issuance of the Gift 
of Life Medals results in no net cost to the government. In addition, I 
am proud to report that the legislation has the strong support of the 
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the Coalition on Donation.
  Any one of us, or any member of our families, could need a life 
saving transplant tomorrow. We would then be placed on a waiting list 
to await our turn--or our death.
  So, I ask that our colleagues help bring an end to waiting lists and 
recognize the enormous faith and courage displayed by organ donors and 
their families. Please join me as a cosponsor of The Gift of Life 
Congressional Medal Act. These donors offer others a second chance by 
providing the most precious gift imaginable--the gift of life.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2943.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________