I want to thank Chairman HOSTETTLER and Ranking Member JACKSONLEE and the two chairmen and ranking members of the full committee. who are here today. for their leadership and effort. This has been a long time coming. The J1 visa Conrad program has expired 6 months ago. and communities are waiting for the certainty of this legislations passing. and I am grateful to the leadership of the committee as well as the House to see that this bill is on the floor today. I came to Congress as a Member who wanted to do something about preserving and improving the way of life in rural America. and one of the things I quickly discovered was if there Is going to be a future for rural communities we are going to have to have access to affordable medical care. If you want your community to have that future. you have got to have hospital doors that remain open. physicians in communities. home health care. nursing home care. and other professional health care providers that can meet the needs. Otherwise. our senior citizens that make up such a large portion of our population will reluctantly move away and young families will decide we cant take the risk of living in a community that does not allow us the opportunity to have our children treated with adequate medical facilities. The J1 visa program. though not solving all of the challenges we face in meeting the health care needs of Americans. is one step in that direction that needs to be there. It needs to be in place. and I am pleased that the committee has recognized its importance. The physician shortage that has been mentioned is real.