Grow Our Own Directive: Physician Assistant Employment and Education Act of 2017
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Grow Our Own Directive: Physician Assistant Employment and Education Act of 2017
This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to carry out the Grow Our Own Directive or G.O.O.D. pilot program to provide educational assistance to certain former members of the Armed Forces for education and training as VA physician assistants.
An individual is eligible to participate in the program if the individual:
has medical or military health experience gained while serving in the Armed Forces;
has received a certificate, associate degree, baccalaureate degree, master's degree, or postbaccalaureate training in a science relating to health care;
has participated in the delivery of health care services or related medical services; and
does not have a degree of doctor of medicine, doctor of osteopathy, or doctor of dentistry.
The VA shall:
provide educational assistance to program participants for the costs of obtaining a master's degree in physician assistant studies or a similar master's degree,
ensure that mentors are available for program participants at each VA facility at which a participant is employed, and
seek to partner with specified government programs and with appropriate educational institutions that offer degrees in physician assistant studies.
The VA shall:
establish specified standards to improve the education and hiring of VA physician assistants, and
implement a national plan for the retention and recruitment of VA physician assistants that includes the adoption of competitive pay standards.
VA physician assistant pay grades are established.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on July 17, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on July 31, 2017: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ann Kuster (D-NH) introduced it on July 17, 2017, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 17, 2017, 3342 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3328 days ago, on July 31, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers