Organ Procurement Optimization Act of 2019

Madam President, I rise today to salute a hometown hero, a dedicated journalist, and a trusted newsman, Jim Taricani, who sadly passed away last month after decades of contributions to Rhode Island and the field of journalism throughout this country.

This is just an example of the tributes that he won by a very, very enthusiastic population of Rhode Island. This is the front page of the Providence Journal on the day of his funeral service.

He was a gentleman. He was a man of integrity, a man of fairness--the qualities that define a great journalist. In fact, the words ``great journalist'' and ``Jim Taricani'' are synonymous.

He leaves behind an extraordinary legacy. He was an award-winning investigative journalist who earned multiple Emmys and the coveted Edward R. Murrow Award, and he was a true champion of the First Amendment.

Jim grew up in Connecticut and served the U.S. Air Force, where he was stationed in Europe as a military police officer. But he made his mark when he moved to Rhode Island and embarked on a career in broadcast journalism, first in radio, and then over a 30-year career at WJAR that spanned from the late 1970s through 2014.

Jim began his stint for NBC 10--WJAR--as a general assignment reporter but gained notoriety for covering big stories and uncovering the truth. He went on to found the station's investigative team in 1979.

He earned a reputation for taking on tough stories about organized crime and political corruption. In reporting on these difficult topics, Jim's own integrity, selflessness, and fairness shone through every day and every moment.

Indeed, Jim didn't just talk about principles; he lived them. In February 2001, Jim obtained an FBI surveillance video from a confidential source. It showed a public employee accepting a bribe in the famed Operation Plunder Dome case, which transfixed Rhode Island and Providence, its capital, for many, many months. It marked a significant moment when people could see and hear what corruption looked like. Rather than following a court order to reveal the source of the tape, Jim stood up for the First Amendment, and he was sentenced to 6 months of home confinement.

Several of Jim's friends and colleagues wrote letters to the judge on Jim's behalf, including Christiane Amanpour, who interned for Jim in the early 1980s, when she was a student at URI.

She noted that Jim Taricani taught her ``that journalism when done right is a noble profession, that America's unique commitment to freedom of the press is vital to a functioning democracy, [and] that holding public officials to account is the imperative of a corruption- free society.''

Indeed, that is what Jim set out to do through his reporting.

He became a strong advocate for other journalists, testifying before Congress about freedom of the press and the challenges journalists face in trying to keep the public informed about their government. His help, his actions, and his activity spurred action. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Senator Schumer's bipartisan media shield bill. But the work to protect journalists, and to ensure that they can responsibly do their job and inform the public, continues. We must find a bipartisan way forward that balances freedom of the press and public safety.

Jim was also a tremendous advocate for the American Heart Association. A survivor of cardiovascular disease and multiple heart attacks, Jim documented his own process of undergoing a heart transplant, from uncertainty to recovery. Here is how the Providence Journal's television critic described it:

Listed--the title refers to the word from doctors that

every heart transplant candidate longs to hear--is the most

powerful human interest story I have ever seen on local

television. It is courageous first-person journalism, a story

that you may never forget.

Taricani, who kept a diary throughout his hospital stay, wanted to have his experience videotaped in order to produce a donor awareness video for the American Heart Association. It was never his intention to broadcast the account, but when the news director, Dan Salamone, suggested it would reach a broader audience if televised, Taricani agreed.

That was Jim. He was not looking to be the story but was willing to share his story if it could help others. Thoughtful, tenacious, and tough--that was Jim Taricani. By the way, 32 days after receiving his new heart, Jim was back at work, which tells you everything you need to know about how passionate he was about journalism and how much he loved his job.

Undoubtedly, the love of his life was his wife, Laurie White, who is a force in her own right and has taken up Jim's cause of freedom of the press and encouraging the next generation of aspiring young journalists to go out and make a difference. She has endowed a lecture series on First Amendment rights at the University of Rhode Island in Jim's honor, which is a fitting tribute.

She said:

Journalists bring sunlight to the stories that otherwise

may stay hidden in the shadows. It is my hope that this

lecture series will continue his legacy of inspiring the next

generation of ethical and responsible journalists.

I expect the series will help increase public understanding of the importance of a free press and the First Amendment for decades to come.

As a journalist and as a person, nothing stopped Jim from following the facts, uncovering the truth, sharing important stories, and enlightening his audience. We are all, in Rhode Island and across the country, deeply saddened by the loss of Jim Taricani, but his example and legacy endure. That legacy will sustain us and inspire us to continue working together to build a just and decent country, and for that we are all grateful to Jim.

Madam President, I yield the floor to my distinguished colleague from Rhode Island, Senator Whitehouse.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an issue that is very important to me and to the 1,300 Hoosiers currently in need of an organ transplant. That issue is the lack of organs for patients in need and our broken organ donation system.

For more than 30 years, our Nation's organ donation system has operated in complete darkness. Groups known as organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, are responsible for getting organs from the donors to the patients who actually need them, but questions surround the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of these organizations.

OPOs are the main link between donor hospitals and organ recipients, and their performance can be a limiting factor for all stakeholders in the organ donation system.

In the last 20 years, no OPO has been decertified despite serious issues of underperformance. For example, CMS recently recertified the New York City OPO despite persistent underperformance for nearly a decade. This problem exists throughout the country.

Currently, OPO performance is measured by data that is self-reported, unaudited, and fraught with errors. Many of these errors have been documented by Lenny Bernstein and Kimberly Kindy at the Washington Post.

That is why today I introduced legislation that would require organ procurement organizations to be held to metrics that are objective, verifiable, and not subject to self-interpretation. This way, there can be meaningful transparency, evaluation, and accountability. Updating these metrics will also enable geographic-level donation rates to be evaluated and improved. This is desperately needed for the more than 113,000 Americans currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant. The legislation I introduced today is supported by the American Society of Nephrology, Dialysis Patient Citizens, and the nonprofit group ORGANIZE. Additionally, in April of this year, I wrote to CMS Administrator Seema Verma urging CMS to update OPO metrics to be objective and verifiable.

I am hopeful that we will soon see action from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. You see, this issue is very personal to me. My friend Dave ``Gunny'' McFarland from Jeffersonville, IN, died because his heart transplant never came. We served together in the U.S. Marine Corps, and over the years, I have gotten to know his widow, Jennifer McFarland Kern. Jen has made it her mission to raise awareness about the organ transplant process and to help prevent others from facing a similar situation.

Because the system is so complex, most people don't know how it works or if patients are actually being protected. It is time to change that. Today's legislation is the first in a series of bills I am working on to reform our organ donation system once and for all and help save precious lives. I will not stop until we increase the availability of organs for patients in need.

Semper fidelis.

Mr. President, I rise today to discuss an issue that is very important to me and to the 1,300 Hoosiers currently in need of an organ transplant. That issue is the lack of organs for patients in need and our broken organ donation system.

For more than 30 years, our Nation's organ donation system has operated in complete darkness. Groups known as organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, are responsible for getting organs from the donors to the patients who actually need them, but questions surround the effectiveness, transparency, and accountability of these organizations.

OPOs are the main link between donor hospitals and organ recipients, and their performance can be a limiting factor for all stakeholders in the organ donation system.

In the last 20 years, no OPO has been decertified despite serious issues of underperformance. For example, CMS recently recertified the New York City OPO despite persistent underperformance for nearly a decade. This problem exists throughout the country.

Currently, OPO performance is measured by data that is self-reported, unaudited, and fraught with errors. Many of these errors have been documented by Lenny Bernstein and Kimberly Kindy at the Washington Post.

That is why today I introduced legislation that would require organ procurement organizations to be held to metrics that are objective, verifiable, and not subject to self-interpretation. This way, there can be meaningful transparency, evaluation, and accountability. Updating these metrics will also enable geographic-level donation rates to be evaluated and improved. This is desperately needed for the more than 113,000 Americans currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant. The legislation I introduced today is supported by the American Society of Nephrology, Dialysis Patient Citizens, and the nonprofit group ORGANIZE. Additionally, in April of this year, I wrote to CMS Administrator Seema Verma urging CMS to update OPO metrics to be objective and verifiable.

I am hopeful that we will soon see action from the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. You see, this issue is very personal to me. My friend Dave ``Gunny'' McFarland from Jeffersonville, IN, died because his heart transplant never came. We served together in the U.S. Marine Corps, and over the years, I have gotten to know his widow, Jennifer McFarland Kern. Jen has made it her mission to raise awareness about the organ transplant process and to help prevent others from facing a similar situation.

Because the system is so complex, most people don't know how it works or if patients are actually being protected. It is time to change that. Today's legislation is the first in a series of bills I am working on to reform our organ donation system once and for all and help save precious lives. I will not stop until we increase the availability of organs for patients in need.

Semper fidelis.

Madam President, it is a great honor to join my senior colleague, Senator Reed, on the Senate floor to remember someone we both knew very well, Jim Taricani, a

legendary investigative reporter, whom not only we knew well but so many Rhode Islanders knew well.

There was a rule in Rhode Island: When Jim called, you answered. He was also tough. He was always fair. He was the founder of WJAR's I- Team, a storied investigative unit for the NBC affiliate in Rhode Island.

Jim started working as a reporter in the 1970s, when the New England mafia was still active on the streets of Providence. He became known for segments exposing organized crime and for sniffing out public corruption, and, at times, a bit of a combination of both. Jim's news sense and his doggedness were legendary.

Jim was a Rhode Island icon. In a small State, with more than its share of stories to tell and plenty of larger-than-life characters, investigative journalists have always had a particular prominence. For more than three decades, Jim was among the best of them all.

He was brave. When a Federal judge ordered Jim to divulge who had provided him with a tape of a bribe being accepted at Providence City Hall, he opted for a prison sentence rather than give up his source. The courage of Jim Taricani made national headlines. He ended up serving 4 months of home confinement and testified before Congress in 2007 in support of a Federal shield law to protect the freedom of the press.

Rhode Islanders felt a personal connection to Jim for another reason. Jim needed a new heart in the 1990s. After having suffered two heart attacks in his thirties, he shared this health saga on the air, allowing WJAR cameras to follow along as he underwent a heart transplant and navigated his recovery.

From living rooms and kitchen tables across Rhode Island, Rhode Islanders rooted for Jim. As his health improved, he ultimately returned to the newsroom. The transplant would give him 23 more years, which he called his bonus.

Jim passed away last month at the age of 69. With the free press under more strain than almost any other point in our Nation's history, Jim's funeral became a really important moment. The photo Senator Reed just showed on the front page of the Providence Journal the next day was a sight to behold. More than 50 journalists showed up to serve as Jim Taricani's honor guard. The honor guard had dozens of reporters from across Rhode Island--not just from WJAR but from all of its competitors too. Journalists came from other parts of the country who had crossed paths with Jim at channel 10 during time they spent in Rhode Island. They had come back to see off a friend, a hero, and a staunch defender of the First Amendment.

I join Senator Reed today in thinking of Jim's beloved wife, Laurie White, and the many friends of theirs who mourn Jim's passing. He will be missed.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.