{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/9/wicker-hyde-smith-welcome-enactment-of-organ-donation-reform-bill", "Wicker, Hyde-Smith Welcome Enactment of Organ Donation Reform Bill", "2023-09-25", "2023", "2023-09", "Republican", "Senate", "MS", "Roger F. Wicker", "W000437", "www.wicker.senate.gov", "wicker", "https://www.wicker.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., today welcomed the enactment of legislation they backed to break up the monopoly contract that manages the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).\n\nPresident Biden on Friday signed the Securing the U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network Act (HR.2544), which passed the Senate on July 27. Wicker and Hyde-Smith cosponsored S.1668, the Senate companion bill to HR.2544.\n\n\u201cI am glad to see this legislation signed into law,\u201d Wicker said. \u201cThese reforms will expand competition and improve management of the organ donation network. Every Mississippian deserves access to life-saving care.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe demand for transplant organs grows every year. Unfortunately, the system to ensure fairness and efficiency in distributing those organs isn\u2019t working well, often to the detriment of patients in the South. This new law provides the tools to begin fixing those shortcomings,\u201d Hyde-Smith said.\n\nThe new law provides the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with clear authority to expand competition for contracts related to the operation of the OPTN in order to improve management of the organ transplantation system in the United States. It expressly authorizes the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to award multiple grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to support the operation of the network.\n\nEnacting the legislation is urgent and timely in that it will allow HRSA to implement a new contract procurement process before the current OPTN contract expires.\n\nThe Mississippi Organ Recovery Agency supported the legislation, which was prompted by evidence of consistent mismanagement and underperformance by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the sole organization running the transplant system since its inception decades ago.\n\nIn early 2022, Wicker and Hyde-Smith signed a letter asking HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra to reverse the Biden administration\u2019s flawed national liver distribution policy, citing the disproportionate harm the liver distribution policy causes patients in the South and Midwest.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T00:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2023/9/wicker-hyde-smith-welcome-enactment-of-organ-donation-reform-bill"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1508391946554184, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}