The U.S. Senate reintroduces a bill that could impact Idaho ranchers

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Sens. Mike Crapo and Tina Smith (D-MN) reintroduced a bipartisan bill addressing the country’s shortage of rural veterinarians.

According to the American Veterinarian Medical Association, veterinarians who want to work in rural areas can’t do so for financial reasons.

The Veterinary Workforce Act, would help veterinarians work in these underserved areas by allowing them to “exempt student loan repayments from their taxable income.”

According to Rick Naerebout, the CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, if this bill goes into effect, it could impact Idaho.

“The animal industry can’t function without veterinarians,” Naerebout said. “We need them for those animal movement certificates; we need them to help. If you’ve got a problem calving that you can’t figure out yourself, you need to call a veterinarian out to help with those type of things. There’s other surgeries that are needed that you can’t perform yourself as a rancher or a dairyman. We can’t function in the cattle industry without these large animal veterinarians.”

As of now, the U.S. Congress has the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program, which helps veterinarians repay their loans in exchange for practicing for three years in needy communities. However, this is subject to significant federal withholding tax.

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