{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-1998-11-12-pt1-PgE2309", "1998-11-12", 105, 2, null, null, "CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4328, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "ALLOTHER", "E2309", "E2309", "[{\"name\": \"Louis Stokes\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", "[{\"congress\": \"105\", \"type\": \"HR\", \"number\": \"4328\"}]", "144 Cong. Rec. E2309", "Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 152 (Thursday, November 12, 1998)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Page E2309]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n   CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 4328, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND\n               RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1999\n\n                                 ______\n\n                           HON. LOUIS STOKES\n\n                                of ohio\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                      Thursday, November 12, 1998\n\n  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to support the fiscal year 1999\nbudget agreement. However, I am disturbed by a provision in the bill\nthat calls for a study--and declares a one year moratorium--on the\nDepartment of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary's regulations\nto reduce fundamental unfairness in the nation's organ transplant\nnetwork.\n  The issues of organ procurement and allocation are of particular\nimportance to the African-American community. Yet, the current organ\ntransplant network is founded on a system that discriminates against\npatients on the basis of where they live. It is biased, inequitable and\nparticularly unfair to minorities. In fact, according to the Inspector\nGeneral of the Department of Health and Human Services, African-\nAmericans wait twice as long as white Americans for kidney transplants.\nIn 1994, African-American patients waited more than 3 years for a\nkidney transplant, while white patients waited an average of 1 year and\n8 months. Some of the disparity is due to biological matching problems.\nBut not all of it. Minorities are clustered in urban areas with long\norgan transplant waiting lists.\n  This dire situation is magnified by--what renowned organ transplant\nsurgeon and founder of the national minority organ/tissue transplant\neducation program, Dr. Clive Callender commonly refers to as the\n``green screen.'' This is a barrier that prevents patients who lack\nfiscal resources from being added to the transplant waiting list. Many\nof them die without having been given the option of transplantation.\n  African-Americans and other minorities are not the only Americans who\nsuffer as the result of an unequitable organ allocation system.\nDepending on where they live, some of our citizens wait five times\nlonger than others for liver transplants, even though their medical\nconditions are similar. I believe that the current system, which makes\nlife and death decisions on the basis of geography, is unfair and\nshould be changed. I support the organ transplant regulations issued by\nthe Department on the April 2nd. They provide the best opportunity to\nreduce geographic bias and put all Americans in need of\ntransplantation, regardless of race or geographic status, on an equal\nplaying field.\n  The HHS rule does not dictate medical policy. Rather, it simply calls\nupon the community of transplant professionals to devise uniform,\nfairer policies for the organ transplant network. It requires only that\nthe medical criteria be used as the basis of any new policies for the\norgan transplant. Through this rule, HHS is taking a stand for\nfairness.\n  Mr. Speaker, it is for these reasons that I support the Department of\nHealth and Human Services' rule on the organ transplant network. I urge\nmy colleagues to do likewise.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-1998-11-12-pt1-PgE2309"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 10.109337978065014, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}