[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 33 (Wednesday, March 15, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S2207]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CONRAD (for himself and Mr. Brownback):
  S. 2425. A bill to apply amendments to the Immigration and 
Nationality Act related to providing medical services in underserved 
areas, and for other purposes; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. CONRAD Mr. President: Today, I am introducing a bill to 
permanently reauthorize the Conrad 30 visa waiver program to provide 
medical care to underserved rural America.
  One of the top concerns of North Dakota community leaders and 
hospital officials is the challenge of recruiting and keeping capable, 
quality doctors. In response, I created this visa waiver program in 
1994 to recruit highly qualified foreign physicians to medically 
underserved areas.
  This program was meant to help many areas across the country, 
especially rural communities that have a difficult time recruiting 
doctors, get access to primary health care. It has proven to be one of 
our Nation's top tools to recruit and keep doctors in our rural 
communities.
  The Conrad 30 program allows a State agency to grant visa waivers to 
foreign medical graduates who are in the United States for their 
residencies on foreign exchange J-1 visas. To qualify for the waiver, 
the physician undergoes numerous background and security checks, and 
must agree to serve a medically underserved community for three years. 
In exchange, the physician's requirement to return to his home country 
for a period of time before applying for a work visa is waived so that 
we can utilize them in underserved areas.
  Since the program was implemented in 1994, North Dakota has received 
a total of 90 Conrad State 30 J-l visa waiver doctors in communities 
all over the State.
  Nearly every rural hospital in the State--and many of clinics--have 
benefited from the program. For examp1e, Oakes, (population 1,979) has 
had 6 doctors, Bottineau, (population 2,336), has had 4, and Tioga, 
(popu1ation 1,125), has had 3.
  As you can see, many rural counties rely on the physicians they 
receive through the Conrad State 30 program to provide healthcare in 
their communities. This bipartisan program is critical to ensuring our 
rural health care needs are met for years to come.
  States have come to rely on the program. It has proven to be 
successful in bringing physicians to underserved areas without 
displacing American physicians, because the foreign physicians are 
filling a large and obvious void.
  It has been just over 14 months since the last reauthorization 
passed, and we're already working on another reauthorization. Clearly, 
two years has proven to be far too short. Since 1994, the Conrad 30 
program has been reauthorized a number of times. The current 
authorization expires on June 1, 2006. I urge my colleagues to pass 
this bill making the program permanent.

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