I thank Senator Mikulski for her incredible leadership on this issue. I come to the floor today in support of equal pay for equal work. I honestly cannot believe we are still arguing over equal pay in 2014. Congress first moved to solve…

a U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts

But I think it's clear that there is still a very big shortage.

Not every medical incident requires a doctor to get the job done.

It's important to continue to support traditional residencies, but it's also critical that we support new efficient programs like these.

It is now up to Congress to put the resources into it so that these programs can be fully implemented.

I think we all agree that access to primary care is essential for keeping people healthy.

At a time when our Nation needs an additional 52,000 primary care physicians to satisfy the demands of 2025, it makes no sense to have a Federal loan program that increased the cost of student loans by $66 billion from 2007 to 2012!

So it seems obvious that part of our long-term strategy to improve outcomes at lower costs in our healthcare system would be to increase the number of doctors trained in primary care.

With a $66 billion profit generated in the 5 years up to 2012 there seems to be room in the Federal student loan program for revisions that would create economic incentives to distribute the primary care workforce to areas of greatest need…

the time for action is now.

Can you just give me some insight from your perspective about the special challenges you think you will face at HUD or the special opportunities or, let us say, both?