Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2015 with Senators Hatch, Franken, and Burr. This bill offers promise to the tens of thousands of individuals diagnosed with leukemia and lymphomas, sickle cell anemia, and rare genetic blood disorders.

It will reauthorize the C.W. Bill Young National Marrow Donor Program, which has been helping to connect individuals in need of a bone marrow transplant with donors since 1986, and the National Cord Blood Inventory, which has been helping to connect individuals in need of an umbilical cord blood transplant with donors since 1999.

The public registries, made up of donors from all over the country, have been a true lifeline for the Americans who have found an unrelated match. By strengthening and enhancing the important programs operating these registries, many more Americans will be afforded the opportunity to find a match if they are ever in need.

I look forward to swift consideration of this legislation in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and working toward passage in the full Senate.

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