[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 164 (Friday, August 24, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 48609]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-4138]


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 Notices
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  Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 164 / Friday, August 24, 2007 / 
Notices  

[[Page 48609]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service

Food Safety and Inspection Service


Implementation of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program 
Authorized by the National Veterinary Medical Service Act

AGENCY: Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service 
and Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of use of funds.

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SUMMARY: USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension 
Service (CSREES) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) jointly 
announce their implementation of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment 
Program authorized in 2003 by the National Veterinary Medical Service 
Act (NVMSA) (7 U.S.C. 3151a) and first funded in fiscal year (FY) 2006. 
To enable the first phase of this program, and in keeping with the 
existing Federal Student Loan Repayment Authority, CSREES has made 
funds appropriated to carry out the NVMSA available to FSIS to 
facilitate their recruitment of food animal veterinarians for 
designated hard-to-fill positions in food safety and supply, especially 
in rural communities, through the addition of loan repayment incentives 
to qualifying service agreements. FSIS, in turn, has posted information 
about positions eligible to receive loan repayments on the careers page 
of its Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/careers/Student_Loan_Repayments_VMO/index.asp.

DATES: Effective August 24, 2007, FSIS is accepting applications for 
positions eligible to receive NVMSA loan repayments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about FSIS NVMSA loan 
repayment opportunities: Ronald K. Jones, Phone: 202-720-9521 or 
[email protected]. For information about overall 
implementation of NVMSA: Gary B. Sherman, Phone: 202-401-4952 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In January, 2003, the NVMSA passed into law. 
It established a new Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment program 
authorizing the Secretary to carry out a program of entering into 
agreements with veterinarians under which they provide veterinary 
services in veterinarian shortage situations. In determining 
veterinarian shortage situations the Act authorizes the Secretary to 
consider: (1) Urban or rural areas that the Secretary determines have a 
shortage of veterinarians; (2) areas of veterinary practice that the 
Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians, such as public 
health, epidemiology, and food safety; (3) areas of veterinary need in 
the Federal Government; and (4) other factors the Secretary considers 
to be relevant.
    In November 2005, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug 
Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (Pub. L. 
109-97) appropriated $500,000 for CSREES to implement the Veterinary 
Medicine Loan Repayment program and represented the first time funds 
had been expressly appropriated for this program. In February 2007, the 
Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2007 (Pub. L. 110-5) 
appropriated an additional $495,000 for CSREES for the program.
    Beginning in the fall of 2005, CSREES hosted information sharing 
meetings on NVMSA and created a working group to explore implementation 
strategies that took into consideration the relatively modest 
appropriation for the loan repayment program. The working group 
developed a plan to lead a program that meets the intent of the 
authorizing legislation, is congruent with the mission and capabilities 
of the Agency, and draws on the expertise of other agencies, as 
appropriate. The plan received the support of the Secretary of 
Agriculture, and, on March 19, 2007, the authority to implement the 
Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment program was delegated to CSREES 
which allowed the agency to proceed with implementing the first phase 
of the program (7 CFR Part 2).
    As a first step toward implementing the authorizing legislation 
this FY and in keeping with the already-existing Federal Student Loan 
Repayment Authority (5 U.S.C. 5379), in May 2007, CSREES made $750,000 
in FY 2006 and 2007 NVMSA funds available to facilitate FSIS' 
recruitment of food animal veterinarians for designated hard-to-fill 
positions in food safety and supply, especially in rural communities. 
In addition to existing hiring incentives, and according to the above 
repayment authority and service agreements between FSIS and eligible 
recruits, FSIS intends to use these funds to offer 25 veterinarians 
payments of $10,000 per year over 3 years to repay their educational 
debt in exchange for practicing in areas of veterinarian shortage or 
need. A current listing of shortage or need areas and other timely 
information about NVMSA loan repayments to Federal veterinarians are 
available on the careers page of the FSIS Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/careers/Student_Loan_Repayments_VMO/index.asp.
    Anticipating the possibility of future budgetary growth and 
intending to extend this program to non-federal positions, CSREES plans 
to publish in the Federal Register a Request for Information from 
stakeholders to gather input on the best way(s) to define veterinarian 
shortage situations within the limits of the authorizing legislation 
and cost-effectively administer a larger-scale loan repayment program 
for non-Federal veterinarians who serve in these situations.

    Done at Washington, DC this 20th day of August, 2007.
Colien Hefferan,
Administrator, Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension 
Service.
Alfred V. Almanza,
Administrator, Food Safety and Inspection Service.
[FR Doc. 07-4138 Filed 8-23-07; 8:45 am]
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