Byron Dorgan: “I commend Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Specter for putting together a funding bill for the Departments of Labor…”

“I commend Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Specter for putting together a funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education that reflects our Nation's priorities making college more affordable, increasing our investment in medical research at the National Institutes of Health, restoring funding for critical rural health programs, and increasing our investment in a number of proven education programs. I was pleased that the bill includes a $2 million increase for the Division of Transplantation at the Health Resources and Services Administration to implement the Organ Donation and Recovery Act. There are currently more than 97,000 Americans on the organ transplant waiting list. Unfortunately, nearly 6,000 people on the list die every year while waiting for a transplant. More than two-thirds of those on the waiting list suffer from end stage renal disease and are in need of a kidney transplant. The good news is that patients with end stage renal disease who require a kidney transplant no longer need to wait for a kidney from a deceased donor or from a blood relative. Advances in medical science now make it possible for friends and spouses to donate a kidney to a patient in need. The $2 million increase provided in the bill for the Organ Donation and Recovery Act will help increase the number of donations from living donors by reimbursing travel and subsistence expenses for donors who could not otherwise afford to donate.”