Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7337587
label
President Vetoes H.R. 17085, amending Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act [Veto Statements and Announcements]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7337587
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
President Vetoes H.R. 17085, amending Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act [Veto Statements and Announcements]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
subjects
U.S. House of Representatives. (03/04/1789 - )
Legislation
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
7337587
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
3
logicalDate
1975-01-03
month
1
year
1975
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
bd7dd79114ca7e1a
ocrText
Digitized from Box 6 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 3, 1975
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
MEMORANDUM OF DISAPPROVAL
I have withheld my approval from H.R. 17085, a bill
that would amend Title VIII of the Public Health Service
Act to provide support for the training of nurses.
This measure would authorize excessive appropriations
levels --- more than $650 million over the three fiscal years
covered by the bill. Such high Federal spending for nursing
education would be intolerable at a time when even high
priority activities are being pressed to justify their
existence.
I believe nurses have played and will continue to play
an invaluable role in the delivery of health services. The
Federal taxpayer can and should selectively assist nursing
schools to achieve educational refors and innovations in
support of that objective. The Administration's 1976 budget
request will include funds for this purpose. Furthermore,
I intend to urge the 94th Congress to enact comprehensive
health personnel training legislation that will permit
support of nurse training initiatives to meet the new
problems of the 1970's.
This act inappropriately proposes large amounts of
student and construction support for schools of nursing.
Without any additional Federal stimulation, we expect that
the number of active duty registered nurses will increase
by over 50 percent during this decade.
Such an increase suggests that our incentives for
expansion have been successful, and that continuation of
the current Federal program is likely to be of less benefit
to the Nation than using these scarce resources in other
ways. One result of this expansion has been scattered but
persistent reports of registered nurse unemployment
particularly among graduates of associate degree training
programs.
Today's very different outlook is not reflected in
this bill. We must concentrate Federal efforts on the
shortage of certain nurse specialists, and persistent
geographic maldistribution. However, this proposal would
allocate less than one-third of its total authorization
to these problems. Moreover, it fails to come to grips
with the problem of geographic maldistribution.
Support for innovative projects - involving the
health professions, nursing, allied health, and public
health should be contained in a single piece of
legislation to assure that decisions made in one sector
relate to decisions made in another, and to advance the
concept of an integrated health service delivery team.
By separating out nursing from other health personnel
categories, this bill would perpetuate what has in the
past been a fragmented approach.
more
(OVER)
2
The enrolled bill would also extend various special
nursing student assistance provisions of current law.
Nursing students are overwhelmingly undergraduates, and
as such should be ---- and are entitled to the same
types of student assistance available generally under
the Office of Education's programs for post secondary
education. These include, in particular, guaranteed
loans and basic educational opportunity grants for
financially hard pressed students. Categorical nursing
student assistance activities are not appropriate and
should be phased out, as the Administration has proposed.
GERALD R. FORD
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 2, 1975.
# # #