[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S3538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 6412. Mr. HEINRICH submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle G of title X, add the following:

     SEC. __. ENCOURAGING MORE EQUITABLE TREATMENT OF OSTEOPATHIC 
                   AND ALLOPATHIC CANDIDATES IN RESIDENCY 
                   APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCESS.

       (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as ``Fair 
     Access In Residency Act of 2026'' or the ``FAIR Act of 
     2026''.
       (b) In General.--Section 1886(d)(5)(B) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(5)(B)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (i), by inserting at the end the following 
     new sentence: ``For discharges occurring on or after October 
     1, 2027, the amount determined under the previous sentence 
     for a hospital shall be reduced by 2 percent for each prior 
     fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2026) for which the 
     hospital has not submitted to the Secretary the information 
     described in subclause (xiv).''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new clause:
       ``(xiv) For purposes of clause (i), the information 
     described in this clause is, with respect to a hospital and a 
     fiscal year, the following:
       ``(I) The number of applicants for residency in each of the 
     hospital's approved medical residency training programs 
     beginning in such fiscal year--
       ``(aa) from osteopathic medical schools; and
       ``(bb) from allopathic medical schools.
       ``(II) The number of such applicants accepted into each 
     such program beginning in such fiscal year from each such 
     type of medical school.
       ``(III) An affirmation that--
       ``(aa) the policy of the hospital is to consider for 
     acceptance to each such program applicants from both 
     osteopathic and allopathic medical schools; and
       ``(bb) in the case that the hospital requires applicants to 
     submit an examination score as a prerequisite for acceptance 
     in such a program, the hospital accepts scores from, at the 
     election of the applicant, either the Comprehensive 
     Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United 
     States or the United States Medical Licensing Examination.''.
       (c) Publication.--The Secretary of Health and Human 
     Services shall publish on a public website the information 
     described in subclauses (I) and (II) of section 
     1886(d)(5)(B)(xiv) of the Social Security Act, as added by 
     subsection (b), and the affirmation described in subclause 
     (III) of such section, that is submitted by a hospital with 
     respect to an approved medical residency training program (as 
     defined in section 1886(h)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(5)(A))) for each fiscal year (beginning 
     with fiscal year 2026).
       (d) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be 
     construed as federalizing medical education, or as 
     establishing a mandate for an approved medical residency 
     training program (as defined in section 1886(h)(5)(A) of the 
     Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(h)(5)(A))) to accept 
     students (or to accept a certain number of students) from 
     osteopathic or allopathic medical schools.
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