[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 181 (Tuesday, November 7, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8553-H8554]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                VETERANS TRANSPLANT COVERAGE ACT OF 2017

  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 1133) to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize 
the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide for an operation on a live 
donor for purposes of conducting a transplant procedure for a veteran, 
and for other purposes, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1133

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Transplant Coverage 
     Act of 2017''.

     SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION TO PROVIDE FOR OPERATIONS ON LIVE 
                   DONORS FOR PURPOSES OF CONDUCTING TRANSPLANT 
                   PROCEDURES FOR VETERANS.

       Section 101 of the Veterans Access, Choice, and 
     Accountability Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-146; 38 U.S.C. 
     1701 note) is amended by adding after subsection (t) the 
     following new subsection:
       ``(u) Transplant Procedures With Live Donors and Related 
     Services.--
       ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), in a 
     case in which a veteran is eligible for a transplant 
     procedure from the Department, the Secretary may provide for 
     an operation on a live donor to carry out such procedure for 
     such veteran, notwithstanding that the live donor may not be 
     eligible for health care from the Department.
       ``(2) Other services.--Subject to the availability of 
     appropriations for such purpose, the Secretary shall furnish 
     to a live donor any care or services before and after 
     conducting the transplant procedure under paragraph (1) that 
     may be required in connection with such procedure.
       ``(3) Use of non-department facilities.--In carrying out 
     this subsection, the Secretary may provide for the operation 
     described in paragraph (1) on a live donor and furnish to the 
     live donor the care and services described in paragraph (2) 
     at a non-Department facility pursuant to an agreement entered 
     into by the Secretary under this section. The live donor 
     shall be deemed to be an individual eligible for hospital 
     care and medical services at a non-Department facility 
     pursuant to such an agreement solely for the purposes of 
     receiving such operation, care, and services at the non-
     Department facility.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Walz) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 1133, as amended.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1133, as amended, the 
Veterans Transplant Coverage Act of 2017.
  This bill is meant to remove an unnecessary barrier to care for 
veterans in need of transplants involving a living donor.
  Last year, Mr. Charles Nelson, a 100 percent service-connected 
veteran from Texas, sought a kidney transplant through the Department 
of Veterans Affairs with Mr. Nelson's nonveteran son, Austin, serving 
as Mr. Nelson's live donor.
  Rather than travel from his home in Texas to VA transplant centers in 
either Nashville, Tennessee, or Portland, Oregon, Mr. Nelson requested 
to receive his transplant at the University Hospital in San Antonio 
using the Choice Program. However, his request was denied by VA because 
Austin was not a veteran, and, therefore, VA did not believe the 
Department had the authority to pay for this portion of the transplant 
procedure with Choice funds.
  Mr. Nelson eventually received his transplant in San Antonio using 
his Medicare benefits, private donations, and personal savings to cover 
the cost of his and Austin's care.
  To prevent any other veterans from being unable to access transplant 
care in the community under Choice, H.R. 1133, as amended, would amend 
the Choice Program to allow VA to pay for any care or services a live 
donor may require to carry out a transplant procedure for an eligible 
veteran, notwithstanding that the live donor may not be eligible for VA 
healthcare.
  I thank my friend from Texas, Congressman Carter, for his dedication 
to solving this problem for his constituent, Mr. Nelson, and for 
veterans and families across the country. This is how Congress should 
work. He is a great representative, and I am really proud to serve with 
him.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting 
H.R. 1133, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1133.
  And, again, the gentleman was very clear: by allowing the VA to 
provide healthcare to non-VA eligible donors, veterans can more easily 
receive lifesaving donations from their families and friends. Family 
members of veterans are often the best match for providing a veteran 
with a live organ donation and are typically more willing to be a live 
donor.
  Under current law, a veteran can receive only a live organ donation 
from another veteran receiving the transplant at a VA hospital.
  This is one of those pieces of legislation that, I think, when many 
of us saw it brought forward, makes great common sense. It is the right 
thing to do. I understand possibly why they put that in there. But all 
of us know that it is going to be that exact scenario that it is going 
to be a family member or someone near who is going to want to do the 
transplant. If the best place to do that for the veteran is at the VA 
hospital, and they can get them in, it makes great sense to do it.
  So I do want to also thank Representative Carter for bringing this 
forward.
  This is, again, improving care, and making sure that we are focusing 
on the issues that we can make a difference on.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Carter).
  Mr. CARTER of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, 
and I thank Mr. Bilirakis and Mr. Walz for rising in support of this.
  When Mr. Nelson and his family came to me with this, the first thing 
I thought was: That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
  You have a child, waiting to give you a live kidney in a transplant, 
and he is eliminated as a donor because he is not a veteran. It is hard 
enough to find live transplants as it is. And common sense by everybody 
who ever knew anybody who got one knows: the best source is

[[Page H8554]]

a family member because it has got the best chance for a match and the 
best chance for success.
  Yet the VA had a limitation that he had to be a veteran. Now, what 
are the chances of all your family being veterans when all of a sudden 
you have renal failure and have to have a kidney? They have got to be 
off the wall, and that is ridiculous.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I filed this bill to correct this mess.
  My colleague has given a great description of what happened to the 
Nelsons. But, more importantly, common sense--and I like the mention of 
that--tells us that you can't eliminate the best pool of donors that a 
family has because of their lack of being a veteran.
  And we all know--we heard Mr. O'Rourke say previously--we are down to 
about 1 percent of our Nation actually serves in the military anymore.
  So this is a commonsense fix for a commonsense problem.
  Mr. Speaker, I am really proud of my staff. They have worked really 
hard on this. They stayed at it and stayed at it. We got the attention 
of the VA, and I am happy for their cooperation. I want to thank the 
committee. They were overwhelmingly supportive on both sides of the 
aisle. I urged my colleagues to fix a commonsense problem and allow a 
son to give a kidney to his father at a facility that is most 
convenient to the family, which is all common sense, so that our 
veterans, who have given their all for us, have the right to have the 
best healthcare available to American citizens, and that is what this 
bill will provide.

  There was such a good explanation by my colleagues that I didn't go 
into the details. But I just want to tell you that when you have a 
constituent come in with a commonsense problem, we have a duty and a 
responsibility to fix it because common sense is in short supply in 
Washington, D.C.
  Mr. WALZ. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I thank Judge Carter. Everybody 
make note of this. Common sense is going to prevail. We are in full 
support of H.R. 1133.
  Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote accordingly, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BILIRAKIS. Mr. Speaker, in closing, once again, I urge my 
colleagues to pass this very important bill. I encourage the Senate to 
pass it as soon as possible so we can get it on the President's desk.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1133, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to amend 
the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to 
authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to provide for an operation 
on a live donor for purposes of conducting a transplant procedure for a 
veteran, and for other purposes.''.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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