[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 151 (Wednesday, October 21, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12959-S12960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE RICKY RAY BILL

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, first let me thank the majority leader for 
the passage of the Ricky Ray bill, which just occurred a few moments 
ago. This is a bill that I introduced, along with Senator Bob Graham, 
here in the Senate. It was introduced in the House of Representatives 
by Representative Tauzin. It has certainly been worked on and helped 
immensely by Speaker Gingrich, by Congressman Hyde and by Senator 
Jeffords. It is a bill which I believe will do some justice in regard 
to a great tragedy. It is a great tragedy that has afflicted thousands 
and thousands of Americans through literally no fault of their own. 
These are hemophiliacs who received tainted blood. Many of them have 
died as a result of that. Many of them are suffering today, and their 
families are suffering. They have tremendous expenses. They have the 
normal expenses of being hemophiliac and on top of that they now have 
AIDS. The reason for this bill is to correct this injustice. The 
injustice was that the Federal Government was simply not vigilant, did 
not do what it should have done to protect the precious blood supply of 
this country.
  Those of us who have worked on this bill for the last several years, 
I think, have felt this was not just another bill in the Congress. We 
have seen and we have talked firsthand to the families who have 
suffered. I met in my office with a man from Ohio whose son died. His 
son died because of this tainted blood. As the father, one of the 
caregivers of this child who had hemophilia, he was the one who had to 
administer the blood. To talk to this father, with tears in his eyes, 
in my office, was something I will never forget. This bill will not 
bring his son back. It will not bring back those who have died. But 
what it will do for those families is give them some compensation,

[[Page S12960]]

some help to deal with their medical expenses. Equally important, it 
will be a very clear signal to them and to the country that when a 
mistake is made, when the Government does not do what it should do, 
when people suffer as they have suffered, that justice will be done. 
This bill is about justice.
  It is now on its way to the President. Again, I thank all of those 
who have been involved in this: Senator Lott, Senator Jeffords, 
Congressman Hyde, Senator Bob Graham, Porter Goss in the House, the 
prime sponsor in the House, as well as Speaker Gingrich.

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