The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) applauds U.S. Senators Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, for introducing the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program Enhancement Act.

The bipartisan legislation will help the country address a critical shortage of veterinarians serving rural areas–that are home to many farms housing horses–by making the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) tax-exempt, thereby increasing the number of veterinarians who can participate in the program. The act would also apply to similar state programs that encourage veterinarians to practice in underserved communities.

Rather than awarding the full funding for this program each year, the current form of the VMLRP requires that 39% of the money it receives be returned to the U.S. Treasury as a federal tax, unlike its counterpart program for human medicine, the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program.

Sixty-two veterinarians from shortage areas around the country were selected for the program last year, out of a total pool of 260 applicants. About 20 more veterinarians could be selected to practice in a shortage area if the VMLRP was tax-exempt