[Federal Register: August 24, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 164)]
[Notices]
[Page 48609]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24au07-22]
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Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
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[[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
Ronald.Jones@fsis.usda.gov. For information about overall
implementation of NVMSA: Gary B. Sherman, Phone: 202-401-4952 or
Gary.Sherman@csrees.usda.gov.
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]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-P