Chris Smith: “I want to thank, first of all, our distinguished chairman, Chairman Pitts, for his extraordinary work on this…”

“I want to thank, first of all, our distinguished chairman, Chairman Pitts, for his extraordinary work on this legislation. I also want to thank Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Pallone, and, of course, Chairman Upton for his strong support of this reauthorization. In the Senate, we have had a tremendous team of Orrin Hatch, Jack Reed, Richard Burr, and Al Franken, who again worked in a very bipartisan way to ensure that this life-affirming, lifesaving legislation not only made it through the Senate, but was beefed up, made stronger. People talk about the lack of bipartisanship. I do believe this is one of those bills where we have all come together to try to say-- whether it be bone marrow or adult stem cells in the form of cord blood--that it be made available to as many people as possible in the most usable and efficacious way. Mr. Speaker, just let me say--and we know this and I will try not to be too redundant because I think the chairman has explained it--the bill under consideration by the House today does reauthorize through 2020 two critically important and complementary programs, the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program and the National Cord Blood Inventory. It is especially appropriate during this time of gift-giving to reauthorize these life-giving programs. Americans willing to give the gift of life to others are at the heart of the success of this program.…”