President. I would like to go on the record regarding H.R. 1285. the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Reauthorization Act of 2005. a bill that I support as it moves through the Senate today. This legislation extends for 3 years the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act of 1999 which provides nonimmigrant visas for nurses in areas where there is a shortage of health professionals. Many hospitals across the Nation and. particularly in my home State of Texas. have been experiencing great difficulties over the last several years in attracting nurses. This shortage has been especially severe in both innercity neighborhoods and in rural isolated areas. It was for this reason that in 1999 Congress passed the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act. This legislation created a new HIC temporary worker program with 500 visas available per year for registered nurses. In order to be eligible to petition for an alien nurse. a hospital must be located in a health professional shortage area as designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. the hospital must have at least 190 acute care beds. and it must have a certain percentage of Medicare and Medicaid patients. The legislation also included strong protections for American nurses by requiring that any HiC nurses be paid the prevailing wage and mandating that hospitals take steps to recruit American nurses.