The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on July 22 marked up and approved a bipartisan bill cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that would reauthorize certain nursing workforce development programs.
“These programs are essential to addressing the workforce shortage facing hospitals in rural areas in Maine and across our country,” said Sen. Collins, who introduced the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act, S. 1874, in May 2025 alongside bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and eight other original cosponsors, including U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).
S. 1874 advanced with a 21-1 vote and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
“The State of Maine continues to face a serious shortage of nurses, particularly in rural communities where hospitals struggle to recruit and retain staff. This shortage is driven by a severe shortage of nursing faculty,” Sen. Collins said during the markup. “This bipartisan legislation would help strengthen the nursing workforce by reauthorizing critical programs that support nursing education, expand access to clinical training, and help schools prepare more students for careers in nursing.”
Specifically, S. 1874 would reauthorize, update, and improve programs under Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act, a law passed in 1944 to support public health and healthcare professionals. Funding would be reauthorized for the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs from fiscal years 2026-2030.
The bill also would make technical changes to the Advanced Nursing Education Program and clarify that grants for traineeships can cover the costs for clinical education and preceptors, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.
Among other provisions, S. 1874 would permit nurse education, practice, quality, and retention grants to be used to cover the cost of audiovisual or other equipment, simulation and augmented reality resources, telehealth technologies, and virtual and physical laboratories, as well as to be used to increase the number of faculty and students at schools of nursing in order to address nursing workforce shortages, the summary says.
The bill is supported by more than 50 organizations, including the American Nurses Association and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.