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 .  