Joe Pitts: “I stand in support of another bipartisan bill this evening. The HIV Organ Policy Equity Act, or the HOPE Act, would lift…”

“I stand in support of another bipartisan bill this evening. The HIV Organ Policy Equity Act, or the HOPE Act, would lift a ban dating back to the 1990s on acquiring HIV-positive organs so that the Department of Health and Human Services can conduct research on the safety and effectiveness of transplants between HIV-positive individuals. As HIV treatments have advanced over the last 30 years, many HIV- positive individuals are living longer lives, but they are also more likely to experience conditions, such as kidney and liver failure, which necessitate a transplant. This bill provides a potential path to a separate organ donation pool for HIV-positive organs, hopefully increasing the overall number of organs available for transplantation. The HOPE Act passed the Senate by unanimous consent in June and is supported by the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, among others. I would encourage my colleagues to support this bipartisan, commonsense bill and would like to commend Dr. Harris, Dr. Burgess, Mrs. Capps, Chairman Upton, and Ranking Members Waxman and Pallone for their leadership on this bipartisan bill. I reserve the balance of my time.”