Ralph Regula

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that debate on this amendment and any amendments thereto be limited to 15 minutes to be equally divided and controlled by the proponent and myself, the opponent.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. We understand the importance of this, and originally we provided, that is, the government, the Federal Government, $175 million for this purpose; but only a limited amount of that has been spent in the last 2\1/2\ years, to be exact, $51 million out of the $175 million. In 2003, $44 million; in 2004, $6 million; in 2005, no money. So what we are proposing is to rescind this and urging that it be reappropriated as the needs arise to meet whatever challenges. I think there is a problem a little bit in the language in that the money cannot really address the needs that are out there, and this is why a reappropriation or reauthorization would make it possible. I think all of us are in agreement that we want to provide the money. It is just that the mechanics of it and doing that are not appropriate at this point. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I do not think the gentleman is questioning the value of milk as a healthy food, but maybe the way it is being sold. I look forward to working with the gentleman as we head into conference. We do not want these things to happen either.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that debate on this amendment and any amendments thereto be limited to 15 minutes to be divided equally and controlled by the proponent and myself, the opponent.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, we did receive their correspondence, and I appreciate the gentleman's concerns. They are not unlike the supporters of many other popular programs. I would also thank the gentleman for understanding the tight fiscal constraints that my committee is facing this year.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in opposition to the amendment. It was included in the bill last year. It was offered as an amendment in full committee markup and passed and was retained in the conference report. This is good language, allows the committee to exercise its oversight rights, and tuberculosis outbreaks and hospitals ought to be regulated by the CDC, not OSHA. CDC is this Nation's primary infectious disease control agency, and we do not need other agencies to enact regulations that are not backed up by sound science in a misguided attempt to control infectious diseases. That is the CDC role. For that reason I oppose the amendment.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. English).

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, certainly I appreciate the gentleman's concerns, and I hope that we can work together in the coming months.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. I rise for the purpose of entering into a colloquy with the gentlewoman from Washington (Miss McMorris). Miss McMORRIS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. REGULA. I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington. Miss McMORRIS. Mr. Chairman, I rise for the purpose of entering into a colloquy with the chairman, and I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I appreciate the chairman's leadership on the Labor-HHS and Education bill, and I especially appreciate his allowing me some time to highlight the significant role training in primary medicine plays in rural health and dental care. My district in eastern Washington stretches from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and covers 23,000 square miles. As I travel around the district and hear from doctors, individuals, and families, I am told of the many challenges facing small rural communities in terms of access to health care. In Congress, one of my top priorities is to ensure those in my district from Spokane, which is the largest medical center between Seattle and Minneapolis, to the more rural communities have access to quality, affordable health care. It concerns me that eastern Washington and throughout rural America, we are seeing an increasing shortage of health care professionals. Already, 20 percent of the United States is impacted by health care personnel shortages. We need doctors, nurses, lab technicians and, especially in rural areas, we have a critical need for training in primary care medicine and dentistry. Congress has recognized these challenges and has worked to preserve rural communities' access to health care by investing in the Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry program under Title VII of the Public Health Care Service Act, and administered in the Health Resources and Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services. This funding plays a critical role in supporting programs that help train and bring health care professionals to rural areas of our country. One of the regional programs that has benefited from Title VII grants is the rural health training program, referred to as WWAMI, which stands for Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. This rural health training residency network trains its graduate students at rural sites within these five States, with the supposition that doctors practice where they were trained. Statistics show that this method has proven itself effective time and time again. Retention rates of doctors who have been trained in rural areas within these States show that 89 percent of physicians who have been trained in rural areas have chosen to practice in those rural areas. Federal grants have been instrumental in the development of this innovative program. Congress needs to continue to invest in training in primary care medicine and dentistry because, in areas of critical need, it is a vital resource used to ensure access to health care. Mr. Chairman, I hope that the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Regula) will be able to address this issue in conference so that primary care training programs receive some Federal funding in fiscal year 06.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentlewoman for bringing the issue of training primary care physicians for service in rural areas to the attention of all of the Members. All of us who represent rural areas share the gentlewoman's concern. It is very difficult for me to recommend not funding many of the health professions training programs. I certainly pledge to the gentlewoman that I will try to address this problem when we are in conference with our Senate colleagues.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I reluctantly rise in opposition to this amendment. I am a very strong supporter of the IDEA programs and we did put additional money in, as much as we were able to do given the constraints of what was given to us to work with. It is quite obvious there are a lot of good programs that we are not able to fund to the level we would like to. We did put $150 million increase in this bill, and anyone that has been listening to the debate today knows that there are a lot of favorite programs and a lot of good programs that we are not able to give the level of funding to that people would like to have. But here we are talking about offsetting this, taking this money out of OSHA. Now, I understand the concern for these children, these students, but I also have a great concern for people who are in the workplace and need to be protected with safety inspections, need to be protected with the OSHA efforts to ensure that the workplace is safe and so on. And if we cut the funding for OSHA to fund this program, I do not think we are being fair to people who depend on OSHA to ensure that they have a safe place to work. And also it would have the effect of denying OSHA the money they need to go into places of employment and give them advice on how to make it safer. Well, that is very important to the employer. It is important to the employee, and it is important to all the people who are part of this Nation's workforce. And here we have got a perfect example of having to make some very difficult trade-offs because IDEA is vital, too, in terms of opportunity for young people who have some type of a special need. I wish we could do both. But we had to make priority judgments when we put this bill together. So we tried to increase IDEA and at the same time maintain OSHA to a level that would ensure worker safety. And for this reason I have to oppose this amendment because this, like many others, has a wonderful and a worthy intent; but in terms of priorities between the safety of the workplace and putting more in, and we do put a lot into the IDEA program, over $11 billion, we just have to make the choice. Under those circumstances I would have to oppose the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I thank both gentlemen, and I think what they are discussing is vitally important. I wish we could do more. I am a big fan of the community health centers. They help with the relief, the pressure on emergency rooms; and they give people without any other access to health care a place to go in an emergency. I am pleased that both gentlemen are actively pushing; and I might also tell my colleagues, we have a great ally in the President of the United States. He believes in the health center program. In fact, we were not able to do as much as he requested in his budget because of other competing needs, but I hope as this body in the years to come will continue to strengthen the health centers.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Illinois makes a very good point. We should be leading the way. The Federal Government should be a model. With the energy problems that confront us, we have to look to alternative fuels as one of the ways through which this can be achieved. I commend the gentleman for his comments and hope that the Department of Labor is listening.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word and yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jindal).

Mr. REGULA. Yes. I thank the gentleman for bringing this important issue to my attention and to the attention of the House of Representatives. I agree that the quality of health care in rural America is an important issue. And regrettably in a tight fiscal environment, some reductions have been made to rural health care programs. I look forward to working with the gentleman to help find funding streams from which to draw from to help improve the technology available to patients of health care providers in rural America.

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, our chaplain today is the Reverend Dr. Richard LaPehn. He is a member of one of the first families of Ohio, tracing his heritage prior to 1800. And Ohio became a State, of course, in 1803. His parents, Donald and Rebecca, are both natives of Iowa, veterans of World War II, and after a career as a CPA and a homemaker, respectively, now live in Florida. His wife, Laura Miles LaPehn, is a national board certified teacher employed as an educator in Barberton, OH. Mrs. LaPehn is the daughter of Carl and Sharon Miles, a retired engineering executive and his wife a homemaker who both reside in Indianapolis, IN. Richard and Laura are the proud parents of two daughters, Samantha and Allison. Fortunately, the family is in the gallery today. Reverend Dr. LaPehn serves as pastor to the very kind and caring members of the Milton Presbyterian Church. In addition, he serves the growing city of Rittman, OH, which, of course, is in the 16th District, as a member of the city council. That is kind of unusual for a pastor of a church to also be a member of a city council. It is my pleasure today to welcome our guest chaplain to the House.

Mr. REGULA

Mr. REGULA. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 27, the Job Training Improvement Act of 2005. I would like to recognize the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner) and the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon) for their leadership and tireless efforts in bringing this bill to the House floor. Hard-working families in my district who have been laid off rely on programs like the One-Stop workforce development system, which helps States and communities ensure workers to get the training they need to find good jobs. I like to call the One-Stops ``hope centers'' because they provide hope to people seeking gainful employment. For example, my constituent, Jeff Ring, who after 24 years of employment as a steelworker, was laid off. He is a father of three children, eight and younger. He came to the One-Stop and enrolled in training to become a registered nurse. Just last week he received his certification and will begin working at Aultman Hospital and will be making nearly 20 percent more than his previous salary. In another case, my constituent, Tiffany Birtalan, a single mother raising a teenager, she currently works as a waitress making $2.13 an hour plus tips. She came to the local One-Stop seeking to change careers. Tiffany is now enrolled at a community college and is training to be a dental hygienist. Based on current labor market information and the high demand for this occupation, she will easily make $25 to $30 per hour. Every day, every day, hard-working people like Jeff and Tiffany walk through the doors of One-Stop across the country seeking assistance. We must do all we can to streamline unnecessary bureaucracy and strengthen allocations so that adequate resources are available to them achieve their hopes and dreams. Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill, and I would urge my colleagues to support H.R. 27.