Sponsors (15)
The bill invests federal funds to expand, diversify, and modernize nursing education and preparedness—improving staffing, training, and emergency readiness—while creating budgetary costs and administrative/allocation constraints that may slow implementation and shift resources from other priorities.
Hospitals and patients — increases the number of trained nurses, easing local staffing shortages in hospitals and clinics, especially in underserved and rural areas.
Disadvantaged and underrepresented students — expands recruitment, retention, tuition support, and mentorship, improving access to nursing education for low-income, rural, first-generation, and minority students.
Nursing schools and students — helps institutions hire and retain more faculty (including greater racial/ethnic diversity), increasing training capacity and improving education quality.
Taxpayers and federal budgeting — authorizes $1.0 billion in federal spending, which could create budgetary pressures and trade-offs with other programs.
Schools and program administrators — imposes administrative and annual reporting burdens on grantees that may divert staff time and resources away from education and clinical training.
Urban or well-resourced institutions — prioritization of underserved or rural recipients may mean these institutions receive fewer grants, limiting their expansion opportunities.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Creates a new HRSA grant program authorizing $1 billion to expand nursing faculty and student capacity, modernize education, and boost public‑health emergency preparedness, prioritizing underserved and rural areas.
Creates a new HRSA grant program to strengthen academic nursing capacity, modernize nursing education, and expand preparedness and response capabilities for public health emergencies and pandemics. The grants target nursing schools—especially those serving medically underserved areas, Health Professional Shortage Areas, institutions identified in higher education law, and rural or noncontiguous States/territories—and authorize $1,000,000,000 to carry out the program. Awards may be used for student recruitment and retention (with priority for disadvantaged and underrepresented students), faculty hiring and retention (with emphasis on underrepresented racial/ethnic faculty), clinical partnerships, infrastructure and curriculum modernization (simulation, telehealth, labs), support for nurse researchers, and interprofessional training; recipients must file annual reports and the Secretary must publish a 5-year public report summarizing outcomes and recommendations.
Introduced December 11, 2025 by Jeff Merkley · Last progress December 11, 2025