[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 24, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ORGAN DONATION AND RECOVERY IMPROVEMENT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. MICHAEL BILIRAKIS

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 23, 2004

  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 
3926, the Organ Donation and Recovery Improvement Act. I recently 
introduced this legislation, which reflects a bipartisan, bicameral 
agreement that was reached with the Senate late last year. I am urging 
all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this timely legislation.
  Most of us are well aware of the great need for donated organs and 
tissue. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, there are 
84,138 people currently waiting for a transplant. Only 23,387 
individuals had received a transplant between January and November of 
2003. Additionally, 12,133 individuals had donated their organs within 
that same timeframe. Tragically, 6,187 individuals died in 2002 while 
on the waiting list.
  It is our duty to do everything in our power to prevent these 
oftentimes needless deaths from occurring. That's why H.R. 3926 is so 
important. This legislation targets federal dollars into areas that we 
feel will have a substantial impact in increasing organ donation rates 
in this country. For example, living donors represented over half of 
all donors in the first nine months of 2003. That is why H.R. 3926 
authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants 
for the purpose of covering travel and subsistence expenses incurred by 
living organ donors. While the decision to become a living organ donor 
is an intensely personal one, I feel that it is our responsibility to 
remove any financial barriers that might prevent someone from making 
the ``gift of life.''
  H.R. 3926 also provides the Secretary with $15 million in new grant 
authority to assist state governments and public and nonprofit private 
entities in developing innovative initiatives designed to increase 
organ donation rates, including living donation. I am hopeful we will 
learn some valuable lessons from these demonstration projects that we 
will be able to apply on a national scale.
  I also want to point out for my colleagues that this bill contains 
important evaluation mechanisms, so we can ensure that our targeted 
federal assistance makes a demonstrable impact on increasing organ and 
tissue donation rates. I think these provisions are critically 
important and will help us monitor the effectiveness of these new 
programs.
  I would like to take a moment to note that section 4 of this 
legislation is modeled after the Floyd D. Spence Organ Coordination 
Improvement Act, which Congressman Joe Wilson introduced in the 107th 
Congress. I know he's worked very hard with Congressman Jay Inslee in 
this area, and I'm pleased we were able to include this important 
provision in our broader bill.
  H.R. 3926 is widely supported by the transplant community and takes a 
positive step forward in our effort to ensure that every American has 
access to a donated organ or tissue when they need it.

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