Stephanie Tubbs Jones Organ Transplant Authorization Act of 2008

Floor Speech

STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES ORGAN TRANSPLANT AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2008 -- (House of Representatives - September 23, 2008)

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Ms. DeGETTE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the subcommittee chairman for working with us on this bill. And I especially want to thank Mr. Costa and Mr. Camp for all of their hard work and advocacy in helping us bring such an important bill to the House floor.

I stand here in strong support of H.R. 6469, which has been named the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Organ Transplant Act of 2008. We named this bill in honor of our dear departed colleague because Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a committed advocate of organ transplantation and was an organ and tissue donor herself. Upon her passing she was able to continue serving her constituents and the Nation by donating her tissue and organs.

As the chairman said, the National Organ Transplant Act authorized the creation and operation of the Organ Procurement and Transportation Network in 1984. Among other things, the OPTN's responsibilities include facilitating the matching of deceased donor organs with individuals waiting for an organ transplant, developing policies and procedures for organ recovery, distribution and transportation, collecting and managing scientific data about organ donation and transplantation, and maintaining the Nation's organ transplant waiting list.

The National Organ Transplant Act limits Federal support to the OPTN to no more than $2 million annually. But this figure has not been increased since the network was created in 1984. Since then, though, the annual operating costs of OPTN have increased from $5 million to $27 million. The demand for transplantation has increased, and the costs of transplantation have increased, but funding levels have remained stagnant.

The problem is compounded by the fact that OPTN has been asked to take on new responsibilities. For example, Congress recently clarified that paired kidney donation is not a violation of the act and therefore must also be facilitated by the network. But there are no plans available to implement such a national program. The Health Resources and Services Association has also directed the network to assume jurisdiction over living organ donors, a new and very challenging jurisdiction.

Therefore, Mr. Speaker, this bill increases the authorized funding by $5 million to $7 million annually. And quite frankly this amount is modest considering there are almost 100,000 patients on the waiting list for an organ transplant.

This bill is supported by numerous groups, Mr. Speaker. It is a vitally important bill. I look forward to passing it tonight and further continuing Stephanie Tubbs Jones' legacy of public service.

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