Reps. Boebert, Taylor Greene oppose National Marrow Donor Program reauthorization in 415-2 vote

Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert was one of only two members of the House of Representatives to vote against legislation reauthorizing the National Marrow Donor Program, which operates a registry that helps facilitate bone marrow and cord blood transplants to patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other diseases.

The House on Thursday passed H.R. 941, known as the TRANSPLANT Act of 2021, in a near-unanimous 415-2 vote, with only Boebert and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican from Georgia, opposed. Another 12 members, mostly Republicans, didn’t vote on the measure.

The National Marrow Donor Program, a Minnesota-based nonprofit, operates the Be The Match registry, and is funded in part by the federal government. H.R. 941, which has not yet been passed by the Senate, would reauthorize funding for the program through 2026. A separate provision in the bill directs the National Institutes of Health to “further the field of regenerative medicine using adult stem cells.”

Boebert’s office did not respond to Newsline’s request for comment. In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Greene claimed that H.R. 941 “opens the door” to research on “aborted fetal tissue.”

The bill, however, is unrelated to the issue of federally-funded fetal tissue research, which was drastically restricted through executive action by former President Donald Trump in 2019. Those restrictions are expected to be lifted by President Joe Biden’s administration without the involvement of Congress.