# 119-s-1874: Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2026

119-s-1874, Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2026, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-10-01).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1874
- As of: 2026-10-01
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-1874
- Congress: 119
- Title: Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2026
- Status: in_committee
- Introduced: 2025-05-22
- Sponsor: Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] (D-OR)
- Cosponsors: 17
- Policy area: Health
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-10-01

## Summary

**This bill would** **expand and modernize the nursing workforce** by widening grant eligibility for advanced practice nursing, boosting faculty capacity, funding salary supplements, and building state data centers to track shortages. - Broadens training support for students and clinical education. It would make nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, nurse anesthetists, and clinical nurse specialists explicitly eligible for advanced nursing education grants and allows fee support to cover clinical education and preceptors. - Strengthens nursing faculty capacity. It would create a Nurse Faculty Demonstration Program to award up to three-year salary supplements to schools that report salary and vacancy data and prioritize high-need areas. It authorizes $15 million for FY2027–2031. - Builds state and regional workforce data. It would start a three-year pilot to fund State and Regional Nursing Workforce Centers with a 1-to-4 non-Federal match and up to $1.5 million per year to collect and report workforce data. *Would increase federal spending by authorizing higher and new appropriations, including raised Title VIII baselines of $184.3 million and $121.1 million per year for 2027–2031, $15 million for the faculty demonstration, and up to $1.5 million annually for the pilot.*

## Cosponsors (17)

- Sen. Alsobrooks, Angela D. [D-MD] (D-MD), 2026-09-28T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME] (R-ME), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] (D-WI), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] (R-TN), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT] (D-CT), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY] (D-NY), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Kelly, Mark [D-AZ] (D-AZ), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA] (D-CA), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK] (R-AK), 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS), 2025-06-24T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Blunt Rochester, Lisa [D-DE] (D-DE), 2025-06-25T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM), 2025-07-14T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] (D-NH), 2026-04-27T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA), 2026-06-03T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Gallego, Ruben [D-AZ] (D-AZ), 2026-06-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI] (D-MI), 2026-09-15T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Short-term nurse faculty pay boosts: benefit, high. This bill would create a 3-year Nurse Faculty Demonstration Program to top up eligible nursing faculty pay. Grants would pay the difference between the average clinical nurse salary and the greater of the faculty member's salary or average nursing faculty salary, prorated for part-time staff. Schoo…
- Higher federal nursing workforce funding: benefit, high. If enacted, the bill would raise authorized Title VIII amounts for FY2027–FY2031. Subsection (a) would be set at $184.3 million per year and subsection (b) at $121.135 million per year for each of those fiscal years. These new authorizations would increase available funding for nursing workforce pr…
- More student aid and training support: benefit, medium. The bill would expand advanced nursing education grants to cover students in nurse practitioner, nurse-midwifery, nurse anesthesia, and clinical nurse specialist programs. Grants would explicitly cover clinical education costs and preceptor payments. It would also let the Secretary and accredited s…
- Adds protections for assault survivors: benefit, low. The bill would add "survivors of sexual assault" to the survivor protections listed in the statute. If enacted, survivors of sexual assault would get the same protections and program access that section 831(b) provides for other covered survivors.
- State nursing data center pilot: benefit, low. The bill would create a 3-year pilot to build or improve state and regional nursing workforce data centers. The Secretary could use up to $1.5 million per year for FY2027–FY2029 for the pilot, but only if Parts B, C, and D funding that year exceed FY2026 levels. Applicants would provide at least $1…

## Related bills

- 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025
- 119-s-1032: Major Richard Star Act
- 119-sres-913: A resolution relating to the death of the Honorable Nancy Kassebaum, former United States Senator for the State of Kansas.
- 119-sres-897: A resolution honoring the life, service, and legacy of the Honorable Jon Llewellyn Kyl, former Senator for the State of Arizona.
- 119-sres-801: A resolution honoring the life and legacy of the Honorable Lindsey Olin Graham, a Senator from the State of South Carolina.
- 119-sres-755: A resolution honoring the life of the Honorable Donald W. Riegle, Jr., former Senator for the State of Michigan.

## Sources
- [119-s-1874 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1874)

## Related
- [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241)
- [119-s-1032: Major Richard Star Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1032)
- [119-sres-913: A resolution relating to the death of the Honorable Nancy Kassebaum, former Uni…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-sres-913)
- [119-sres-897: A resolution honoring the life, service, and legacy of the Honorable Jon Llewel…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-sres-897)
- [119-sres-801: A resolution honoring the life and legacy of the Honorable Lindsey Olin Graham,…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-sres-801)
- [119-sres-755: A resolution honoring the life of the Honorable Donald W. Riegle, Jr., former S…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-sres-755)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1874 (as of 2026-10-01).