CONTACT: Timothy Svoboda, (202) 225-2476
(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-Glenbeulah) continued his strong support of “Right to Try” legislation by voting in favor of the House version of the bill, which passed the house 267 – 149 with bipartisan support and will go to the Senate for further consideration. Senator Ron Johnson introduced a Senate version of this bill in 2017 and, with President Trump’s full-throated support, has made significant progress on passing this important legislation.
The Right to Try Act will allow terminally ill patients who have exhausted all other treatment options the opportunity to try medications that have passed basic Food and Drug Administration (FDA) safety protocols, but have not received final approval for public use. The law will not require any individual to participate in the program, but instead give those with no other options one last chance.
A federal law would be particularly meaningful now because of the number of states that have passed similar laws through their local governments. “Right to Try” laws have been passed in 38 states with overwhelming bipartisan support. In fact, in these state’s legislative bodies, “Right to Try” has received a yes vote 97.8 percent of the time, that includes both Republicans and Democrats.
“Now is the time to pass this critical ‘Right to Try’ legislation– something I’ve been trying to bring to the floor for quite some time. After several conversations with my friend, Congressman Greg Walden [Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee], ‘Right to Try’ has finally passed the House”
“Under current law, terminally ill patients are prohibited from utilizing potentially life-saving treatments. Sometimes this is a patient’s last chance for survival.”
“Treatments that could save lives are just sitting on the shelves right now. Passing ‘Right to Try’ legislation, which has had overwhelming bipartisan support, will make sure patients exhaust every option for recovery and could potentially reveal cures to major diseases.”
