Political Quotes

“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.”