Providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendment to H.R. 710, with amendments.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 837) providing for the concurrence by the House in the Senate amendment to H.R. 710, with amendments.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, we're here today to pass the Charlie W. Norwood Living Kidney Donation Clarification Act. And like many of my colleagues, I was pleased when this bill finally first passed the House in March, and I'm happy to report now that we have an agreement with both Chambers of a provision that can pass and be signed by the President into law.

We all suffered a great loss with Dr. Norwood's loss, and we know he was the recipient of a lung transplant himself and was a committed champion of these causes while serving in Congress. So in addition to helping thousands of Americans today in a way to enhance the prospects of living donations, this bill will be a fitting tribute to Dr. Norwood and his efforts.

I also want to thank the Energy and Commerce Committee staff who've worked diligently on this for months, Jessica McNiece, Pete Goodloe, Katherine Martin and Ryan Long, getting this bill in a condition where it can be signed into law.

As many of my colleagues know, this legislation will clarify the procedure commonly known as paired organ donation to make clear that it is legal and, in doing so, will provide hope to thousands of Americans who now are waiting for transplants, particularly kidney transplants, across the United States. Paired organ donation will make it possible for thousands of people who wish to donate a kidney to a spouse, a family member or a friend but find that they're not medically compatible, still allowing them to become living kidney donors.

As of this afternoon, there are fully 97,000 candidates for organ donations waiting on the national waiting list. But there are only 28,931 transplants performed in total of 2006, and only 6,730 were from living donors. Clearly, we've got work to do.

This resolution will take a significant step towards reducing the number of patients on the waiting list and give much more hope for others to hope that, and know that their wait will not be endless.

It's imperative we make absolutely clear that there's no intent by Congress to bar this procedure. Simply put, we want this legislation to save lives immediately, and it will do so when enacted.

I also want to take a moment to salute and thank Dr. Connie Davis, who's a constituent and a friend and a very knowledgeable transplant physician from the University of Washington in Seattle. In addition to her years of caring for local transplant donors and recipients, she's advised me and others on transplant issues as chairwoman of the American Society of Transplantation, the largest organization in the world representing professionals engaged in the field of solid organ transplantation. And her help has been invaluable in putting this legislation together and making sure that those 90,000 patients get access.

So for those thousands of patients waiting today who spend costly and often arduous time on dialysis treatment, their time on the waiting list can be significantly shortened with passage of this bill.

And I want to thank my colleagues across the aisle who worked on this, Nathan Deal and others.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank the gentleman from Washington, our friend, Representative Inslee, and of course Representative Nathan Deal.

I am proud to be here to support this resolution, H.R. 710, in honor of our colleague, the late Dr. Norwood. Representative Inslee described the magnitude of the issue. I wasn't even aware that there were, as a physician, maybe I should be, but over 90,000 people who are on a waiting list, and a fourth of them each year get transplants, and only a very small number get a transplant from a living donor, as Representative Inslee pointed out. And of course Representative Deal just explained to us exactly what this cross-living donor program, how it would work. So it is an easy bill, Madam

Speaker, to support for our late and dear friend and colleague, Dr. Charlie Norwood.

Earlier this year we passed a bill honoring Dr. Norwood by naming a VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, the heart of his congressional district, in honor of the great work that he did on behalf of our veterans.

I think my colleagues, Madam Speaker, know that Charlie Norwood served as a dental officer in Vietnam, in combat, got two Bronze Stars, I think a medical combat award. He was a great spokesperson on behalf of our veterans.

But also, in regard to health care, before I was even thinking about running for this great office that I hold now, Madam Speaker, Charlie Norwood had that Patient Bill of Rights. I think a lot of my colleagues would remember that. Madam Speaker, you indeed probably were here at that time. And so this is just another opportunity for us, not just to honor Dr. Norwood, but to realize that he worked so diligently on behalf of veterans issues and health care issues. So it's a great honor to be here today.

And I'll tell you, on a personal note, my colleagues, Madam Speaker, I have a senior legislative assistant, Josh Waller, whose dad, Jerry, last year died while on a waiting list for a liver transplant. That was awfully painful for me to watch that happen to the dad of one of my great staff members. So this is a wonderful opportunity for us to do something really good for these people that Representative Deal, Representative Inslee described that are on these waiting lists, that suffer dialysis. And as Representative Deal pointed out, the Senate amendment just changed it a little bit so that other organs, other than kidneys, indeed, Dr. Norwood himself, as Representative Inslee pointed out, was the recipient of a lung transplant. Unfortunately, it did not work for him. But God bless him. And I'm proud to be here today to support this bill. I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this legislation, which was originally introduced by my dear friend, the late Congressman Charlie Norwood, and has now been renamed the Charlie W. Norwood Living Organ Donation Act. As a lung transplant recipient, Charlie believed in organ donation. This good piece of legislation will help facilitate life-giving organ donation by clarifying the intent of the National Organ Transplant Act to protect the commonsense practice of paired organ donation.

A paired donation occurs when a donor who is willing to give an organ to a family member or a friend, but is biologically incompatible, donates to another patient, who also has an incompatible donor. By cross-matching two or more incompatible donor recipient pairs, more patients can receive organs and more donors can give them.

The changes we're making this afternoon help conform the bill to an amendment that was offered in the Senate during consideration. The amendment helps to ensure this bill can adapt to advances in science should organs other than kidneys be eligible for paired donation.

As we pass this bill today and later send it to the President for his signature, we honor a great Member of this House and carry forward some of his goals.

I would like to thank Mr. Inslee for his leadership on this issue, and I would urge my colleagues to join me in support of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to another colleague of the Georgia delegation, Dr. Phil Gingrey.

Madam Speaker, I urge the unanimous adoption of this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.