Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of my amendment No. 6 to H.R. 5894.

My amendment would increase the health workforce account in the underlying bill by $10 million. This increase is completely offset by a decrease in funding for the National Institute of Nursing Research by $19 million. While the National Institute of Nursing Research provides funding for important research, the nursing workforce shortage is at a critical point, Mr. Chair, and must be addressed immediately.

The increase in funding for the health workforce account is intended to provide additional funding to Nurse Corps programs, which would bring the total funding amount for this program to $102 million for fiscal year 2024.

This critical HRSA workforce program provides scholarship and loan repayment opportunities for nurses working in either a hospital or a community-based setting located in a critical shortage facility. Increasing scholarship and loan repayment opportunities will help encourage nurses to serve at facilities that are facing nursing shortages.

As we all know, there is a shortage of healthcare professionals across our country, especially amongst the nursing workforce. The nursing workforce shortage is especially felt in rural communities, including those in my district.

This fact was recently reinforced when I visited the Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre last month. During this visit, I was able to see the great work that the hospital was doing to incorporate new technologies to combat some of this nursing shortage.

Nevertheless, the American people deserve this Congress to support such a critical profession, and we must keep in mind that this amendment, again, is fully offset and will aid in our efforts to resolve the nursing shortage workforce that exists.

Nurses are the backbone of our hospitals and our healthcare in general, Mr. Chair, and, again, we must support this crucial profession.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. MEUSER. Mr. Chair, with all due respect to my colleague, this amendment was developed and created with the assistance of the nursing community from rural hospitals as well as more urban.

We have in our country a finite level of resources. We cannot continue to do things the same way they have always been done. We need to properly dedicate resources where they will deliver the most good for the most people.

This bill, by reallocating and having such an offset, will improve, enhance, and augment the nursing pipeline for the critical needs and value that nurses bring to our hospitals, particularly in rural communities.

We have a win-win. We have a reduction in the excessive spending that takes place. This bill brings accountability, and it fortifies the all- important professional nursing pipeline now and for the next generation.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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