Max Cleland: “I want to commend Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, VA, for his leadership on the…”

“I want to commend Senator Rockefeller, Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, VA, for his leadership on the measure we are introducing today, the Nurse Recruitment and Retention Act of 2001. I also want to commend Senator Rockefeller for conducting his first hearing as newly appointed Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs on the looming nursing shortage. The Federal health sector, employing approximately 45,000 nurses and the VA as the single largest employer of nurses may be the hardest hit in the near future with an estimated 47 percent of its nursing workforce eligible for retirement in the year 2004. Current and anticipated nursing vacancies in Federal health care agencies are particularly alarming with the increased nursing care needs of an aging America. The Journal of the American Medical Association published a study last year which found the average age of the nursing workforce rose by 4.5 years between 1983 and 1998, mostly because fewer younger people are joining the profession. It is imperative that the VA have the ability to recruit and retain nurses.”