Expressing support for designation of April as "National Donate Life Month" and expressing gratitude to all Americans who have registered to be organ and tissue donors.

IV 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 333 Expressing support for designation of April as ‘‘National Donate Life Month’’ and expressing gratitude to all Americans who have registered to be organ and tissue donors. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 27, 2023 Mr. COSTA (for himself, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. CORREA, and Mr. MURPHY) sub- mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce RESOLUTION Expressing support for designation of April as ‘‘National Donate Life Month’’ and expressing gratitude to all Americans who have registered to be organ and tissue donors. Whereas, as of March 2023, 104,234 individuals were on the official waiting list managed for organ donation by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network estab- lished under section 372 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 274), commonly referred to as the ‘‘national transplant waiting list’’; Whereas, in 2022, over 42,800 transplant procedures were performed with organs from over 14,900 deceased donors and over 6,400 living donors, yet on average, 17 people die each day while waiting for an organ donation; VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR333.IH HR333 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 333 IH Whereas over 169,000,000 people in the United States are registered to be organ and tissue donors, yet the demand for donated organs outweighs the supply of organs made available each day; Whereas, on September 9, 2022, the United States reached the historic milestone of over 1,000,000 transplants per- formed, more than any other country in the world; Whereas, in 2022, a record was set for the number of de- ceased donor organ transplants performed in a single year, for the ninth consecutive year, and annual records were also set for liver, heart, and lung transplants, with total kidney transplants exceeding 25,000 for the first year ever; Whereas transplantation is the therapy of choice, and fre- quently the only option, to ease patient suffering, restore patient health, and allow patients to lead more productive lives; Whereas modern medicine has progressed to allow exponen- tially more successful transplant surgeries to be per- formed; Whereas scientific breakthroughs in the field of living dona- tions have allowed a living donor to donate a kidney or a portion of the liver to save the life of another indi- vidual; Whereas in addition to addressing public health concerns, there are also enormous financial savings to the United States health care system that can be realized by increas- ing organ donation and transplantation nationally; and Whereas April is traditionally recognized as ‘‘National Do- nate Life Month’’: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 1 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR333.IH HR333 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 333 IH (1) supports the designation, goals, and ideals 1 of ‘‘National Donate Life Month’’; 2 (2) expresses its support and gratitude to all 3 Americans who have registered to be organ and tis- 4 sue donors; 5 (3) acknowledges the grief of families who face 6 the loss of loved ones and commends the families 7 who, in their grief, choose to donate the organs and 8 tissues of deceased family members; 9 (4) recognizes the generous contribution made 10 by each living individual who has donated an organ 11 or tissue to save and enhance the life of another in- 12 dividual; 13 (5) encourages those Americans who are not al- 14 ready donors to consider their organ, blood and tis- 15 sue donation options; 16 (6) commends the medical professionals and 17 organ donation and transplantation experts who 18 have worked to improve the donation process to in- 19 crease the number of deceased and living donors and 20 thus save more lives; 21 (7) encourages States, localities, and territories 22 of the United States to support the goals and ideals 23 of National Donate Life Month by issuing a procla- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR333.IH HR333 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 333 IH mation to designate ‘‘National Donate Life Month’’; 1 and 2 (8) supports the many public events that will be 3 conducted in April in every State to thank donors 4 and donor families, to publicize the organ shortage, 5 and to educate individuals on the benefits of becom- 6 ing an organ and tissue donor. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:35 Apr 28, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR333.IH HR333 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS