Wasserman Schultz, House Dems mulling more FDA funding to end ban on gay men blood donations

Top House Democrats are eyeing more funding for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help speed up the agency’s effort to eliminate the decades-old policy preventing many gay men from donating blood.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said she spoke by phone to the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sunday night, hours after more than 100 people were shot in a gay nightclub in her home state.  

The tragedy in Orlando, which left 50 people dead, spurred an outpour of support from gay and bisexual men who wanted to donate blood, but were turned away because of the 1983 FDA policy. Under current rules, men cannot give blood if they have had sexual contact with other men within one year.

Wasserman Schultz said she asked the FDA commissioner, Robert Califf, if more funding would help – and he said yes.   

“They are absolutely moving forward [with this change],” Wasserman Schultz said at a briefing Tuesday afternoon that also included Rep. Xavier Becerra, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “We need to expedite that process.”

Wasserman Schultz pointed out that she sits on the Appropriations Committee with Reps. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) – both of whom have been longtime leaders on the issue.

Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), who also attended Tuesday’s press conference, highlighted his role as ranking member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that controls FDA funding.

Democrats also began circulating a letter on Tuesday that urges Califf and his staff to “move swiftly toward future changes” that judge an individual’s risk for diseases like HIV/AIDS based on their behaviors, rather than their sexual orientation.

The ban remains a divisive issue among government health officials, even as groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Red Cross call it “medically and scientifically unwarranted.”

“It is our view that this tragedy, more than any other, shines a light on the need for a permanent reversal of this policy,” the letter to Califf reads.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that the administration did not have specific plans to change the blood donation policy.

“We’re going to rely on scientific advice,” Earnest told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s going to be rooted in the advice we’re getting from scientists at the FDA.”  

Wasserman Schultz said Earnest’s remarks did not indicate that the White House was unwilling to review its policy – just that it is not yet doing so. 

Opponents of the ban have seen some success in the past year: The FDA announced in December that it would partially roll back the lifetime ban on blood donations from gay men.

But the new policy only allows gay men to donate if they have refrained from having sex with another man for at least 12 months, which critics say remains a “de facto” ban for many gay men.