# 119-hr-9747: Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act

119-hr-9747, Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Krishnamoorthi, Raja [D-IL-8] (D-IL); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-07-25).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9747
- As of: 2026-07-25
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-9747
- Congress: 119
- Title: Welcome Back to the Health Care Workforce Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-07-16
- Sponsor: Rep. Krishnamoorthi, Raja [D-IL-8] (D-IL)
- Cosponsors: 1
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-07-25

## Summary

**This bill would authorize grants to help integrate internationally educated health care professionals into the U.S. health care workforce.** It focuses on funding licensing and training supports and on system-level changes to improve recruitment and retention. - Internationally educated professionals would get targeted help with licensing, exam and English preparation, credential evaluation, clinical training, career counseling, and individualized supports such as living or transportation assistance. - Hospitals, colleges, nonprofits, federally qualified health centers, and other consortia could receive funds to build culturally and linguistically competent supports, mentoring networks, employer education, and career ladders. At least 20% of each grant must fund these system-level improvements and up to 10% may be used for administration. - Projects that recruit and retain internationally educated professionals in communities with workforce gaps or in rural areas would get priority. Recipients must report participant and outcome data annually to HHS and the Secretary would provide yearly progress reports to Congress starting within two years, and the bill authorizes appropriations for fiscal years 2027–2031 as needed.

## Cosponsors (1)

- Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9] (D-WA), 2026-07-16T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Grants to help foreign-trained health workers: benefit, medium. If enacted, the Secretary of HHS would award grants within one year to consortia that help foreign-trained health workers get licensed and hired. Each grant would fund system projects (at least 20% of funds) and direct supports like licensing help, ESL and exam prep, clinical training, career couns…
- Who counts and who can apply: benefit, low. This bill would define key terms for the grant program. An eligible entity would be a consortium of two or more groups, such as hospitals, community nonprofits, colleges, area health education centers, state or local governments or Indian Tribes, and federally qualified health centers. An "internat…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-8800: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027
- 119-hr-3838: Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026
- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-3077: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-9747 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9747)

## Related
- [119-hr-8800: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8800)
- [119-hr-3838: Streamlining Procurement for Effective Execution and Delivery and National Defe…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3838)
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-3077: Agriculture Resilience Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3077)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9747 (as of 2026-07-25).