NEWS: Senator Blunt Rochester Secures Wins for Nursing Workforce in HELP Committee Markup

"This is a great day for nurses in this country."

Click here to watch Senator Blunt Rochester's remarks.

U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, today participated in Committee Executive Session to consider key health legislation. Senator Blunt Rochester offered portions of her National Nursing Workforce Center Act as amendments to the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2025 and the EMPOWER for Health Act.

The amendments create a 3-year pilot program to support state nursing workforce centers and enable the Health Resources and Services Administration to establish a federal nursing-focused Health Workforce Research Center. The amendments were both adopted.

An excerpt of Senator Blunt Rochester's remarks can be found here and below:

Senator Blunt Rochester: "Thank you to my colleagues who have worked with us on this legislation. I've been working on this bill since we were in the House, and it stemmed from what we saw during the pandemic and the impact on our nurses. So, to be able to see us move forward with this, it is a great day for nurses in this country.

"My amendment to Title Seven is a commonsense fix that would give HRSA the clear authority to establish a federal nursing focus research center, something they are currently prohibited from doing. This would ensure consistent federal data collection on the nursing workforce, data which will help policymakers and healthcare leaders create strategies for alleviating the nursing workforce shortage.

"As I said before, we have bipartisan, bicameral support and support from others across our country. The nurse supply and demand in the United States has always moved in cycles, but we haven't been able to see the changes coming, and what we want to do with this amendment is fix that. And so, again, thank you so much for the support of my colleagues, and again, we salute our nurses in this country. Thank you, and I yield back."