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Three members of Congress just introduced a bill aimed at one of the quietest bottlenecks in American health care: the cost of training nurses. The Educating Future Nurses Act, from Reps. Lauren Underwood, Jen Kiggans (VA-02) and Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), would create permanent federal funding for hospitals to partner with nursing schools and community-based care settings to cover clinical training costs for graduate nursing students training to become Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs).
The problem
The cost of clinical training limits how many APRN students hospitals can accept. That bottleneck hits hardest in rural and underserved communities, where the nursing shortage is most severe and where advanced practice nurses often serve as the primary point of care.
“In every corner of our country, nurses are doing critical work to support the health and well-being of our communities,” said Rep. Underwood. “America needs more nurses, not fewer. Our legislation will strengthen graduate-level nursing education and make sure these dedicated professionals get more support for this vitally important training.”
Rep. Kiggans, a geriatric nurse practitioner and co-chair of the Congressional Nursing Caucus, pointed to the barriers aspiring advanced practice nurses face just getting the education required to finish training. Rep. Bonamici added that with health care costs rising and more people reliant on hospitals and emergency care, “our country is in desperate need of more nurses, including advanced practice nurses, but there are too many barriers to graduate education.”
The track record
The bill isn’t starting from scratch. It builds on the Affordable Care Act’s Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration Program, which provided federal funding to hospitals to pay for APRN clinical training costs. That demonstration showed the model works — this bill would make the funding permanent.
“The Educating Future Nurses Act is an important step toward addressing our nation’s ongoing nursing shortage and ensuring that all Americans have access to high-quality healthcare,” said Dr. Julie Sanford, Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. “Enabling partnerships between hospitals and nursing schools is an innovative approach to expanding the nursing workforce.”
Dr. Deborah Trautman, President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, added that by building on the demonstration program’s success, the bill “will have a profound impact on sustaining the nation’s Advanced Practice Registered Nursing workforce and access to care for all patients in need.”
The backing
The legislation has been endorsed by more than 30 nursing organizations in Illinois and across the country, including the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology.
Why it matters for us
Nursing shortages don’t hit everyone equally. Black communities and rural areas are more likely to face provider deserts, longer ER waits, and worse outcomes when the workforce thins out. Advanced practice nurses — nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists — are often the ones filling those gaps. A bill that permanently funds their training pipeline is a bill about who gets care and who doesn’t.
It’s also worth noting who’s carrying it: Lauren Underwood is a nurse herself, one of the few in Congress, and she’s been one of the most consistent voices on Black maternal health. This fits the pattern.
