Debbie Dingell: “I rise in support of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, a solid piece of legislation, one which does great credit to the…”

“I rise in support of the Nurse Reinvestment Act, a solid piece of legislation, one which does great credit to the gentlewoman from California and one which is a solid down payment on our effort to address severe shortages in the nursing professions. We need to do more, and we must do more. But for a variety of reasons, this is about as good as we can do today. It is, however, a valuable bill. As with any bill of importance, this is a very important bill and much of the credit goes to the colleagues of ours who are willing to do the hard work. No one has worked harder for the nursing profession than my distinguished friend and colleague from California (Mrs. Capps). She has been tireless and, today, that effort bears fruit. I congratulate her and salute her for a job well done. Of course, we would not be here without bipartisan support and cooperation; and I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), the subcommittee ranking member, and, of course, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), the chairman of the full committee, for their support of this undertaking.”