[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2206 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2206

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a competitive grant 
 program to build capacity in veterinary medical education and expand 
 the workforce of veterinarians engaged in public health practice and 
                          biomedical research.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 9, 2005

Mr. Pickering introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish a competitive grant 
 program to build capacity in veterinary medical education and expand 
 the workforce of veterinarians engaged in public health practice and 
                          biomedical research.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterinary Workforce Expansion Act 
of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Veterinary medicine is an integral and indispensable 
        component of the Nation's public health system. Veterinarians 
        protect human health by preventing and controlling infectious 
        diseases, ensuring the safety and security of the nation's food 
        supply, promoting healthy environments, and providing health 
        care for animals.
            (2) Veterinarians are essential for early detection and 
        response to unusual disease events that could be linked to 
        newly emerging infectious diseases, such as monkeypox, SARS, 
        and West Nile Virus, or other biothreat agents of concern.
            (3) There is a need to build national capacity in research 
        and training in the prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, and 
        control of newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
            (4) Veterinarians are uniquely qualified to address these 
        high priority public health issues because of their extensive 
        professional training in basic biomedical sciences, population 
        medicine, and broad, multi-species, comparative medical 
        approach to disease prevention and control.
            (5) There is a shortage of veterinarians working in public 
        health practice. As used in the preceding sentence, the term 
        ``public health practice'' includes bioterrorism and emergency 
        preparedness, environmental health, food safety and food 
        security, regulatory medicine, diagnostic laboratory medicine, 
        and biomedical research.
            (6) The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects there to be 
        28,000 job openings in the veterinary medical profession by 
        2012 due to growth and net replacements, a turnover of nearly 
        38 percent.
            (7) The Nation's veterinary medical colleges do not have 
        the capacity to satisfy the current and future demand for 
        veterinarians and veterinary expertise that is vital to 
        maintain public health preparedness.

SEC. 3. COMPETITIVE GRANTS PROGRAM.

    Part E of title VII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
294n et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

                    ``Subpart 3--Veterinary Medicine

``SEC. 771. COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall award competitive grants to 
eligible entities for the purpose of improving public health 
preparedness through increasing the number of veterinarians in the 
workforce.
    ``(b) Eligible Entities.--To be eligible to receive a grant under 
subsection (a), an entity shall--
            ``(1) be--
                    ``(A) a public or other nonprofit school of 
                veterinary medicine, department of comparative 
                medicine, department of veterinary science, school of 
                public health, or school of medicine that offers 
                postgraduate training for veterinarians in a public 
                health practice area as determined by the Secretary; 
                and
                    ``(B) accredited by a recognized body or bodies 
                approved for such purpose by the Department of 
                Education; and
            ``(2) prepare and submit to the Secretary an application, 
        at such time, in such manner, and containing such information 
        as the Secretary may require.
    ``(c) Consideration of Applications.--The Secretary shall establish 
procedures to ensure that applications under subsection (b)(2) are 
rigorously reviewed and that grants are competitively awarded based 
on--
            ``(1) the ability of the applicant to increase the number 
        of veterinarians who are trained in specified public practice 
        areas as determined by the Secretary;
            ``(2) the ability of the applicant to increase capacity in 
        research on high priority disease agents; or
            ``(3) any other consideration the Secretary determines 
        necessary.
    ``(d) Preference.--In awarding grants under subsection (a)(1), the 
Secretary shall give preference to applicants that demonstrate a 
comprehensive approach by involving more than one school of veterinary 
medicine, department of comparative medicine, department of veterinary 
science, school of public health, or school of medicine that offers 
postgraduate training for veterinarians in a public health practice 
area as determined by the Secretary.
    ``(e) Use of Funds.--Amounts received under a grant under this 
subsection shall be used by a grantee to increase the number of 
veterinarians in the workforce through--
            ``(1) paying the costs associated with construction, the 
        acquisition of equipment, and other capital costs relating to 
        the expansion of existing schools of veterinary medicine, 
        departments of comparative medicine, or departments of 
        veterinary science; or
            ``(2) paying the capital costs associated with the 
        expansion of academic programs that offer postgraduate training 
        for veterinarians or concurrent training for veterinary 
        students in specific areas of specialization.
    ``(f) Definition.--In this section, the term `public health 
practice' includes bioterrorism and emergency preparedness, 
environmental health, food safety and food security, regulatory 
medicine, diagnostic laboratory medicine, and biomedical research.
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
        to carry out this section, $300,000,000 for fiscal year 2006, 
        and $1,264,000,000 for the 9-fiscal year period beginning with 
        fiscal year 2007. Amounts appropriated under this subsection 
        shall remain available until expended.
            ``(2) Requirement.--Not more than 25 percent of the amount 
        appropriated under paragraph (1) in each fiscal year shall be 
        made available to schools of veterinary medicine that were 
        established after the date of enactment of this section.''.
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