Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004-Continued

DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004—CONTINUED

FUNDING FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONS TRAINING

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I rise to engage the distinguished chairman and ranking member of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee in a colloquy.

I want to thank the chairman for the hard work he has put into crafting the Labor-HHS bill that is currently before us. I know that he faces many challenges in developing this important legislation every year, and I commend him for his leadership. As the chairman knows, I am a very strong supporter of Federal health professions training programs. These important programs administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA, provide critical support to health professions institutions, facilities, students and communities throughout the country.

Support from these programs is particularly important to our Nation's historically black health professions schools. HRSA's Health Professions Training for Diversity Programs, including Minority Centers of Excellence, Health Careers
Opportunities, Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students, and Faculty Loan Replacement, support those institutions with a historic commitment to training minorities in the health professions. Without support from these programs, many of our historically black health professions schools, including Meharry Medical College in my home State, would be unable to sustain their mission of training minorities for clinical careers in medically underserved areas.

The other programs that comprise the Health Professions Training cluster are equally important to ensuring that we meet our health professions workforce needs, particularly in the over 3,100 Federally Designated Health Professions Shortage Areas. Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry, Area Health Education Centers, Health Education and Training Centers, Allied Health, and other Title VII programs all play a critical role in our health care system. As we continue to work to expand access to quality health care for all Americans, I believe it is important that we support those existing Federal programs that make a difference.

I also recognize that these programs have not yet been formally reauthorized, and so I appreciate the chairman's continued support for funding these items. I look forward to working with him, Chairman Gregg and others to reauthorize these programs and to look for ways through the reauthorization process to improve performance measures and accountability.

I, again, thank the distinguished Senator from Pennsylvania and express my interest in working with him and our colleagues in the House to fully restore funding for all Health Professions Training Programs when the Labor-HHS bill gets to conference.

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished majority leader for his comments and for his leadership on these very important issues. He has truly been a leader in this area, and he has consistently pushed for improvements in Federal programs to eliminate health disparities. In fact, he authored the Title VII and Title VIII Reauthorizations as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee's Public Health Subcommittee during the 105th Congress.
As he knows, our subcommittee has a long history of supporting HRSA's Health Professions Training programs. Senator
HARKIN and I appreciate the contributions these programs make to our provider workforce through a variety of scholarships, loans, grants and contracts. Unfortunately, the allocation that was provided to the subcommittee for FY04 did not permit us to fully support these worthy initiatives. I agree with the majority leader that a restoration of funding for all health professions programs should be our goal in conference. I am pleased to commit to the majority leader that I will do all I can to fully restore funds for the four diversity programs and, at a minimum, bring funding for the other programs to the House level.

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I want to commend both my chairman, Mr. SPECTER, and the majority leader for their support of the Health Professions programs. My home State of Iowa is suffering from a severe shortage of health professionals. In a rural State, getting well-trained doctors, nurses, and health technicians is always a challenge. One of the biggest obstacles facing health professionals who want to come to rural areas is loan debt. Many of these professionals cannot afford to work in small town America. And that is truly a shame. That is why I am a long-standing supporter of the Health Professions training programs. These programs help to train American workers for good paying, steady jobs, while giving them the economic freedom to work in medically underserved areas—many times the most rewarding settings in which a health professional can work. I thank my colleagues for their commitment to these programs, and I look forward to working with Mr. SPECTER to try to restore this funding in conference.

Mr. REED. Mr. President, I also wish to express my appreciation to the chairman and ranking member for their longstanding commitment to HRSA Title VII Health Professions programs. I had planned to offer an amendment to increase funding for these critical programs to the House level. I will not offer this amendment with the understanding that this will be worked out in conference. I thank the managers of the bill and the Senate majority leader and look forward to working with them as this bill proceeds.