mr. speaker , i yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from washington ( miss mcmorris ) . 
miss mcmorris . 
mr. speaker , i thank the chairman for yielding me this time . 
i rise in support of house bill 3010 , and i especially wanted to highlight the increased funding for critical rural health programs . 
access to quality and affordable health care is one of my top priorities , and in a district that stretches 23 , 000 square miles between the canadian , idaho , and oregon borders , the distance creates considerable challenges to ensuring quality health care . 
we continue to see an increasing shortage of health care professionals . 
in towns like odessa , republic , davenport , primary care coverage is sparse . 
pregnant women must travel over 1 hour for care . 
in addition , it is becoming nearly impossible to retain primary care physicians and dentists , let alone specialists . 
i have said it before and i will say it again : this is unacceptable for 21st-century health care . 
this conference report is an important step in turning this tide for rural health care by increasing funds for the office of rural health and research policy , rural health outreach grants , and area health education centers . 
training in primary care and dentistry will receive $ 13 million above the original conference report . 
these title vii funds have helped support family medicine spokane 's rural training efforts , which is still producing family practice doctors who want to stay in practice in rural areas like washington , wyoming , alaska , montana , idaho . 
training and recruitment of health professional students remains an important priority . 
when this bill was addressed on the floor in june , i spoke of the need for additional rural health care funds , and chairman regula assured me that he would consider increasing those funds in the conference report . 
i thank him for helping to preserve the federal rural health infrastructure and increasing funding for these necessary programs . 
i appreciate his leadership on this issue . 
we have made a solid step , and i urge my colleagues to support this legislation as we continue to advance legislation that will strengthen america 's rural health infrastructure . 
