Mr. President,
The Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act is an opportunity for Congress to make history.
An opportunity to change the lives of the more than 100,000 Americans waiting for an organ transplant.
Organ donation has always been a bipartisan issue.
In 1984, Congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act. That bill was cosponsored by Senator Al Gore and Senator Orrin Hatch.
I’d like to thank the bipartisan group of Senate colleagues who cosponsored our bill.
I’d like to give special thanks to Senator Cassidy, who championed the bill in the HELP Committee.
I’d also like to recognize Senators Wyden, Cardin and Young, who’ve worked with me for years to shine a light on the deadly failures of the nation’s organ donation system.
Thank you all for your leadership.
Our bipartisan work will continue.
The organ donation system has failed patients and generous donor families from all walks of life.
For almost two decades, Congress, government watchdogs and the media have questioned the United Network for Organ Sharing's ability to carry out its responsibilities.
I’ve written about these issues since 2005.
Since then, two hundred thousand Americans have died on the organ waiting list.
To put it in perspective, that’s the population of Des Moines, Iowa.
There’s a reason I call the United Network for Organ Sharing the “fox guarding the hen house.”
In August of 2022, the Senate Finance Committee issued a bipartisan report that detailed vast disparities in how Organ Procurement Organizations serve their communities.
This bipartisan investigation, which started when I was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, uncovered fraud, waste, abuse, criminality, deadly patient safety issues and retaliation against whistleblowers.
The Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan report was clear: “From the top down, the U.S. transplant network is not working, putting Americans’ lives at risk.”
Today, by passing this bill, we’ve accomplished a major milestone in saving lives and taking care of those who need it most.
I yield the floor.
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