S.1874 – Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2025 (119th Congress), sponsored by Sen. Jeff Merkley, was reported out of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) with an amendment in the nature of a substitute on 07/28/2026. It has now been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 527.
S.1874 is a bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize annual congressional appropriations to support nursing workforce development programs, nursing education, workforce diversity, and faculty loan programs, which aim to address the nursing shortage.
The HELP Committee’s markups to S.1874 that were adopted are:
- authorizing a nurse faculty demonstration program to support the recruitment and retention of nurse educators.
- establishing a 3-year pilot program to expand and establish state nursing workforce centers.
In FY 2026, Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs received $305.472 million in federal funding, falling short of the AACN’s request for $503 million for 2026. With the United States facing an estimated annual nursing shortage of 190,000 nurses, AACN “…urges Congress to support $610 million in FY 2027 for Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs.”(AACN, 2026)
S.1874 has bipartisan support and is a multiyear reauthorization bill that will end in December 2030. The current Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization funding was extended when the CARES Act of 2020 expired in 2024.
The Nursing Community Coalition (NCC), which includes AONL, “supports the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act (S.1874/H.R. 3593) to fund existing workforce development programs through FY 2029.” (AONL, 2026)
Support from nurses, nursing organizations, and hospital organizations will hopefully result in the full passage and enactment of S.1874 – Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2025 by December 2026 when the 119th Congress ends.
Sources:
American Organization for Nurse Leaders. (2026). Title VIII funding reauthorization.
Mary O'Connor, PhD, MSN, RN
Professor Emeritus, PennWest University, California campus
Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders (PONL), Legislative Committee
