Congressional Statements
Pallone says termination of J-1 Visa
harmful to rural American health care
Press Release
May 8, 2002
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) last night was critical during a
speech on the floor of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's recent decision to discontinue helping foreign physicians
obtain J-1 visa waivers to serve in rural communities.
Currently, Pallone said foreign medical graduates are allowed to come
to the United States on a J-1 visa for up to three years to train in accredited
residency programs in rural, under served parts of the country. The impetus
behind accepting physicians from other countries foreign medical graduates
and training them in American residency positions is to attract physicians
to provide care to the medically under served who live in rural areas
where doctors trained in the United States do not normally want to practice.
Pallone, co-chairman of the House Democratic Health Care Task Force,
said the law states that once the residency program is complete, the doctors
are required to return to their country of origin for two years. However,
the government has the authority to waive the requirements if it is in
the United States' interest to keep the physician here. The New Jersey
congressman said the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Development
Branch was thrilled by the waiver because it provided the opportunity
to retain medical trainees who would continue to serve in medically under
served communities in rural America.
"Although it is clear that there is a lack of sufficient healthcare
in the rural America and although it is clear that qualified physicians
from abroad are willing to come to the U.S. to serve in these medically
lacking communities, the federal government is now proposing an end to
this very successful program," Pallone said during his speech on
the House floor. "Terminating this program and preventing qualified
physicians from serving communities in America that lack sufficient health
care does our country a great injustice."
"Since September 11, national security concerns have taken hold
and new, extensive background checks have been put in place," Pallone
continued. "The USDA claims that the extra money required to implement
background checks on foreign medical graduates would be too burdensome
and therefore, the program must end. Currently, there are approximately
a little more than 80 applications for the waiver that are still pending.
After these applications have been processed, the program is slated to
end. I believe that there is not justification for the cessation of the
J-1 visa waiver program, and believe that it is simply unacceptable to
end this important program in rural America."
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