mr. speaker , i rise in strong support of h.r. 2520 , which combines legislation i introduced and passed in the 108th congress to reauthorize the national bone marrow registry with legislation by my colleague from new jersey , mr. smith  to authorize a federal investment in building an inventory of 150 , 000 umbilical cord blood units .  this life-saving bill is good for patients , good for transplant doctors , good for researchers and it represents good policy for our nation .  i would like to take this opportunity to thank many colleagues for bringing this legislation to the floor .  let me thank the chairman of the energy and commerce committee , mr. barton  for providing the leadership to advance this important bill .  his commitment to providing sound national policy in this area of stem cell transplantation has produced an excellent legislative design that will benefit thousands of patients immediately upon enactment .  i would also like to thank my friend , mr. this legislation builds on the investment made by congress 18 years ago when we established a national bone marrow donor program to save the lives of patients with leukemia and many other blood disorders .  countless dedicated doctors , patients , families , and research scientists have continued to pioneer new approaches to saving lives using these blood stem cells from bone marrow and now umbilical cord blood cells .  this bill authorizes funding for 5 years to continue federal support for bone marrow , peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood transplantation and research .  with this legislation , transplant doctors and patients will have an enhanced , single point of electronic access to the full array of information on possible bone marrow matches , as well as matches with cord blood units from the new national inventory which would be created .  in a matter of minutes , physicians can review the options and reserve the best possible sources for their patients .  in addition , the new effort will facilitate accreditation of cord blood banks , stimulate research , and collect and share data on the outcomes of all transplants .  last month , at the request of our appropriations committee direction , the institute of medicine released its report on cord blood and how the inventory should be built and integrated into the existing national registry .  this bill before us has been shaped by the guidance provided through the iom process and during the past year-and-a-half a consensus has been building for moving forward to combine our activities in bone marrow and cord blood .  that consensus has formed the basis for this legislation .  mr. speaker , this literally is life saving legislation .  through the efforts of the national marrow donor program -- which this congress initiated in 1987 -- many lives have already been saved .  to date , the program has facilitated almost 21 , 000 unrelated transplants involving bone marrow , cord blood or peripheral blood .  that means 21 , 000 individuals -- both children and adults who are otherwise suffering from terminal disease -- received the gift of life through this national program .  when the program first started , our goal was to build a national registry of 250 , 000 individuals willing to donate marrow .  mr. speaker , we found that the human spirit responded to our efforts in ways that we could not imagine .  i am proud to say that as of this month , the national bone marrow registry has more than 5.6 million potential bone marrow donors signed up .  in addition , the program has an additional 41 , 666 units of umbilical cord blood in reserve for transplant through its network of 15 affiliated cord blood banks throughout the country .  total transplants from all sources for last year alone exceeded 2500 .  let me repeat -- we have 5.6 million volunteer bone marrow donors signed up in the national program .  these are true volunteers in every sense of the word .  they have given of their time to take a simple blood test to be listed in the national registry .  for more than 20 , 000 who have been called upon to donate bone marrow , they have undergone a relatively simple surgical procedure to donate their bone marrow to save the life of a man , woman or child with anyone of more than 85 different diseases .  another 41 , 000 women have donated umbilical cord blood which can be used in the same way as bone marrow , to transplant life giving cells to cure disease .  this legislation will provide the funding to greatly increase the number of cord blood units that can be collected and stored .  nineteen million dollars has already been appropriated for this purpose over the past two years and this legislation will allow that immediate infusion of funds into building up reserves of umbilical cord blood .  the scientific reason for this is clear .  thanks to research , cord blood has now become another very important source for obtaining and transplanting the particular cell found in bone marrow and peripheral blood that can restore health to those suffering from so many different diseases .  in addition , by building up the cord blood inventory , the overall resource will be much more likely to meet the needs of patients from genetically diverse , ethnic populations .  it is estimated that adding 150 , 000 new cord blood units to the number of existing bone marrow donors will provide potential cell matches for about 95 percent of all americans .  mr. speaker , this national effort is a true modern miracle and this new legislation will reinforce and strengthen the program .  today , our national bone marrow program is affiliated with 156 transplant centers , 82 donor centers , 15 cord blood banks , 102 transplant marrow collection centers and 82 apheresis centers .  of these , 72 are international facilities .  having had the great pleasure to meet with hundreds of donors and patients , i can tell you that donating bone marrow or cord blood can be a true life-changing experience .  the experience of giving life to another human being is beyond mere words .  mr. speaker , there are many people who have been heroes in this effort and need to be recognized for their contributions .  the first is a little 10 year old girl who died of leukemia at all children 's hospital in my home district of st .  petersburg 18 years ago .  brandy bly might have been saved from leukemia back in 1987 if matched bone marrow or cord blood cells had been available .  it was during her treatment that i first learned from doctors how difficult it is to find a compatible , unrelated bone marrow donor .  her death inspired me , and her doctor -- dr .  jerry barbosa -- inspired me to help find a way to build a national bone marrow program .  there were other early medical pioneers , like the late dr .  robert goode , dr .  john hansen and dr .  donnell thomas -- all who helped perfect the science of marrow transplantation and who assisted us in our legislative quest to establish there have been many members of congress , past and present , who have stood together with me over the years to develop and fund the program that we reauthorize and enhance today .  i thank each and every one for your dedication .  we must recognize the staff and members of the board of the national marrow donor program and the marrow foundation who have volunteered their time to establish and grow a finely tuned international registry program .  and we must recognize the dedicated doctors and medical teams at transplant and donor centers around the nation who use their medical expertise to perform the transplants and save lives .  dr .  joanne kurtzberg , the head transplant doctor at duke university 's blood bank center , is the epitome of a dedicated , caring and highly knowledgeable physician who works hard to save lives .  we must recognize the pioneering cord blood research of dr .  pablo rubenstein and dr .  cladd stevens at the new york blood center , and dr .  claude lenfant , the former director of the national heart , lung and blood institute at nih who initiated the major coblt study on cord blood banking and transplantation .  the ultimate true heroes of the national effort are the patients and donors .  every patient who has sought a marrow or cord blood transplant has helped in the overall effort to gain more scientific knowledge on perfecting the transplant process .  every patient helps all those who will follow .  and every donor who has rolled up his or her sleeve to sign up for the national bone marrow program , or every family that has decided to donate umbilical cord blood , are heroes for taking part in giving the ultimate gift of life .  mr. speaker , in closing let me again thank chairman barton and mr. smith for their leadership in enhancing this great national program .  let me thank every member of this house for their support for the efforts we started 18 years ago on behalf of patients everywhere .  with your support , we will provide hope -- and a second chance at life -- to thousands of patients today and into the future .  