To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a loan repayment program regarding the provision of veterinary services in shortage situations, and for other purposes.

To authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to conduct a loan repayment program regarding the provision of veterinary services in shortage situations, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `National Veterinary Medical Services Act'.

SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM REGARDING VETERINARY MEDICINE.

The National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3101 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 1415 the following new section:

`SEC. 1415A. VETERINARY MEDICINE LOAN REPAYMENT.

`(a) PROGRAM- The Secretary shall carry out a program of entering into agreements with veterinarians under which the veterinarians agree to provide, for a period of time as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, veterinary services in veterinarian shortage situations. For each year of such service under an agreement under this subsection, the Secretary shall pay an amount, as determined by the Secretary and specified in the agreement, of the principal and interest of qualifying educational loans of the veterinarians.

`(b) VETERINARIAN SHORTAGE SITUATIONS- In determining `veterinarian shortage situations' the Secretary may consider the following:

`(1) Urban or rural areas that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians.

`(2) Population groups that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians.

`(3) Areas of veterinary practice that the Secretary determines have a shortage of veterinarians.

`(4) Other factors that the Secretary considers to be relevant.

`(c) ADMINISTRATION-

`(1) CONTRACT AUTHORITY- The Secretary may carry out this program directly or enter into agreements with another Federal agency or other service provider to assist in the administration of this program.

`(2) BREACH REMEDIES-

`(A) IN GENERAL- Agreements with program participants shall provide remedies for any breach of an agreement by a participant, including repayment of financial assistance received in proportion to the time served in the veterinary shortage situation.

`(B) WAIVER- The Secretary may establish a waiver process of this repayment obligation in the event of extreme hardship, as determined by the Secretary.

`(C) AMOUNTS RECOVERED- Funds recovered under this subsection shall be credited to the account available to carry out this section and shall remain available until expended.

`(3) QUALIFYING EDUCATIONAL LOANS- Loan repayments provided under this section may consist of payments on behalf of participating individuals of the principal, interest, and related expenses on government and commercial loans received by the individual for attendance of the individual at an accredited college of veterinary medicine resulting in a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or the equivalent, which loans were made for--

`(A) tuition expenses;

`(B) all other reasonable educational expenses, including fees, books, and laboratory expenses, incurred by the individual; or

`(C) reasonable living expenses as determined by the Secretary.

`(4) REPAYMENT SCHEDULE- The Secretary may enter into an agreement with the holder of any loan for which payments are made under this section to establish a schedule for the making of such payments.

`(5) TAX LIABILITY- In addition to making educational loan repayments, the Secretary shall make such additional payments to participants as the Secretary determines to be appropriate for the purpose of providing reimbursements to participants for individual tax liability resulting from participation in the program under this section.

`(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS- There are authorized to be appropriated for carrying out this section such sums as may be necessary.'.