FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE/March 22, 1996 CONTACT: Joan Meehan [202-651-7020] House Votes down Amendment to Restore Visa Program for Foreign NursesGrassroots response nets ANA victoryWASHINGTON, DC -- The defeat of an amendment to the Immigration in the National Interest Act of 1995 (H.R. 2202), which would have restored a temporary visa program for foreign nurses, is a victory in preserving job opportunities for staff nurses, according to the American Nurses Association. By overwhelming majority, the House of Representatives defeated the amendment in a floor vote yesterday. ANA strongly opposed the amendment, offered by Congressman Richard Burr (R-NC), because of its potential negative effect on employment opportunities for experienced domestic and new graduate registered nurses. The amendment would have extended the H-1A visa program for foreign nurses for six months. Enacted in 1990 as a response to a sustained shortage of registered nurses, the program was allowed to sunset in September 1995. ANA believes the special visa program is unnecessary due to the current trend of downsizing and restructuring within the health care industry, the increasing numbers of nurses entering the United States under the negotiated trade agreements, and the improving supply of domestic and new graduate nurses. "Employers who provide good wages and working conditions have no trouble recruiting and retaining well educated nurses," said ANA President Virginia Trotter Betts, JD, MSN, RN. "Continuing the H-1A visa program is unnecessary and misguided in today's environment." Due to quick mobilization of ANA's 53 constituent nurses associations and its grassroots network, Nurses Strategic Action Team, the House of Representatives was deluged with telephone calls, faxes, and letters opposing the amendment. "The swift response of ANA's members demonstrates the effectiveness of our grassroots political network," said Betts. "ANA is committed to making its collective voice heard on public policy issues that affect nursing and the public," she said.
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