I 

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.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterinary Workforce 

5 Expansion Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) Veterinary medicine is an integral and in2 dispensable component of the Nation’s public health 

3 system. Veterinarians protect human health by pre4 venting and controlling infectious diseases, ensuring 

5 the safety and security of the nation’s food supply, 

6 promoting healthy environments, and providing 

7 health care for animals. 

8 (2) Veterinarians are essential for early detec9 tion and response to unusual disease events that 

10 could be linked to newly emerging infectious dis11 eases, such as monkeypox, SARS, and West Nile 

12 Virus, or other biothreat agents of concern. 

13 (3) There is a need to build national capacity 

14 in research and training in the prevention, surveil15 lance, diagnosis, and control of newly emerging and 

16 re-emerging infectious diseases. 

17 (4) Veterinarians are uniquely qualified to ad18 dress these high priority public health issues because 

19 of their extensive professional training in basic bio20 medical sciences, population medicine, and broad, 

21 multi-species, comparative medical approach to dis22 ease prevention and control. 

23 (5) There is a shortage of veterinarians working 

24 in public health practice. As used in the preceding 

25 sentence, the term ‘‘public health practice’’ includes 
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1 bioterrorism and emergency preparedness, environ2 mental health, food safety and food security, regu3 latory medicine, diagnostic laboratory medicine, and 

4 biomedical research. 

5 (6) The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects 

6 there to be 28,000 job openings in the veterinary 

7 medical profession by 2012 due to growth and net 

8 replacements, a turnover of nearly 38 percent. 

9 (7) The Nation’s veterinary medical colleges do 

10 not have the capacity to satisfy the current and fu11 ture demand for veterinarians and veterinary exper12 tise that is vital to maintain public health prepared13 ness. 

14 SEC. 3. COMPETITIVE GRANTS PROGRAM. 

15 Part E of title VII of the Public Health Service Act 

16 (42 U.S.C. 294n et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

17 the following: 

18 ‘‘Subpart 3—Veterinary Medicine 

19 ‘‘SEC. 771. COMPETITIVE GRANT PROGRAM. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall award com21 petitive grants to eligible entities for the purpose of im22 proving public health preparedness through increasing the 

23 number of veterinarians in the workforce. 

24 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—To be eligible to receive 

25 a grant under subsection (a), an entity shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) be—

2 ‘‘(A) a public or other nonprofit school of 

3 veterinary medicine, department of comparative 

4 medicine, department of veterinary science, 

5 school of public health, or school of medicine 

6 that offers postgraduate training for veterinar7 ians in a public health practice area as deter8 mined by the Secretary; and 

9 ‘‘(B) accredited by a recognized body or 

10 bodies approved for such purpose by the De11 partment of Education; and 

12 ‘‘(2) prepare and submit to the Secretary an 

13 application, at such time, in such manner, and con14 taining such information as the Secretary may re15 quire. 

16 ‘‘(c) CONSIDERATION OF APPLICATIONS.—The Sec17 retary shall establish procedures to ensure that applica18 tions under subsection (b)(2) are rigorously reviewed and 

19 that grants are competitively awarded based on—

20 ‘‘(1) the ability of the applicant to increase the 

21 number of veterinarians who are trained in specified 

22 public practice areas as determined by the Secretary; 

23 ‘‘(2) the ability of the applicant to increase ca24 pacity in research on high priority disease agents; or 
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1 ‘‘(3) any other consideration the Secretary de2 termines necessary. 

3 ‘‘(d) PREFERENCE.—In awarding grants under sub4 section (a)(1), the Secretary shall give preference to appli5 cants that demonstrate a comprehensive approach by in6 volving more than one school of veterinary medicine, de7 partment of comparative medicine, department of veteri8 nary science, school of public health, or school of medicine 

9 that offers postgraduate training for veterinarians in a 

10 public health practice area as determined by the Secretary. 

11 ‘‘(e) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts received under a 

12 grant under this subsection shall be used by a grantee to 

13 increase the number of veterinarians in the workforce 

14 through—

15 ‘‘(1) paying the costs associated with construc16 tion, the acquisition of equipment, and other capital 

17 costs relating to the expansion of existing schools of 

18 veterinary medicine, departments of comparative 

19 medicine, or departments of veterinary science; or 

20 ‘‘(2) paying the capital costs associated with the 

21 expansion of academic programs that offer post22 graduate training for veterinarians or concurrent 

23 training for veterinary students in specific areas of 

24 specialization. 
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1 ‘‘(f) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘public 

2 health practice’ includes bioterrorism and emergency pre3 paredness, environmental health, food safety and food se4 curity, regulatory medicine, diagnostic laboratory medi5 cine, and biomedical research. 

6 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

8 appropriated to carry out this section, $300,000,000 

9 for fiscal year 2006, and $1,264,000,000 for the 9-

10 fiscal year period beginning with fiscal year 2007. 

11 Amounts appropriated under this subsection shall 

12 remain available until expended. 

13 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT.—Not more than 25 per14 cent of the amount appropriated under paragraph 

15 (1) in each fiscal year shall be made available to 

16 schools of veterinary medicine that were established 

17 after the date of enactment of this section.’’.

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