Press Releases

I rise today to encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 5247, the Right to Try Act, and I thank Dr. Burgess and the Energy and Commerce Committee for bringing this important legislation to the floor of this House.

In certain states across our nation, patients who are diagnosed as terminally ill are being told by doctors that all of their treatment options have been exhausted because they do not have access to experimental drugs. This type of overregulation by the federal government is creating hopeless situations for thousands of Americans that we hold dearest to our hearts. This Right to Try legislation allows terminal patients to have a choice on whether or not an experimental approach is the path for them, and sometimes and many times, this is their only option.

Should this bill become federal law, our terminally ill patients will have increased access, nationwide, to unapproved drugs, leading to more scientific breakthroughs that will benefit all Americans, and in some, and a lot of cases, save a life.

Now is the time for Congress to take action and give terminally ill patients a fighting chance for their God given right to life. How in God’s name can this Congress deny an American the right to life? I urge all my colleagues to join me today in supporting this bill on this Floor. And with that, I yield back.

###