Sponsors

Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY 4th)

Currently serving her 6th term representing Long Island's 4th Congressional District, Carolyn McCarthy was employed as a registered nurse before taking office. She was recently named Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Healthy Families and Communities and holds many other honors.

Official Website

Co-Sponsors:

Lois Capps (D-CA 23rd)

Serving in Congress since 1998, Lois Capps was also a registered nurse for 20 years before holding office. She is a respected leader on issues of public health and passing legislation to address the national nursing shortage.
Official Website

Steven LaTourette (R-OH 14th)

Serving his seventh term in the United States House of Representatives, representing Northeast Ohio’s 14th Congressional District. Prior to his election, he served from 1989 to 1995 as the Lake County Prosecutor. In 1990, he was named Prosecuting Attorney of the Year in Ohio.
Official Website

Need for Change

We support Congress in their fight for the Bill for Increasing Education Oppertunities for Nurses and Nurse Faculty Act of 2007 because nurses play a critical role in the health care delivery system. This shortage can be detrimental to the health and well being of patients and the proper function of health care systems all over the United States.
This is evidenced by several statistics: It is estimated between 44,000 to 98,000 patients die as a result of medical errors each year and a primary reason for this is the shortage of Registered Nurses (RN) in the United States. In 2002, the Joint Commission found that for roughly a quarter (24 percent) of hospital patient deaths and injuries, low nurse staffing levels was a contributing factor. In April 2006, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) predicted that the nation's nursing shortage would grow to more than one million nurses by 2020. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing report on 2006-2007 Enrollment and Graduations in Baccalaureate and Graduate Programs in Nursing, U.S. nursing schools turned away 42,866 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs in 2006 due to insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. The 2006 National League for Nursing report stated that nurse faculty vacancies continued to grow with 1,390 as the estimated number of budgeted, unfilled, full-time positions countrywide in 2006. In our country there is an estimated 78 million baby boomers that are going to require health care services, making this shortage even more of a crisis.
(GovTrack.US)

H.R.3597: Increasing Education Opportunities for Nurses and Nurse Faculty Act of 2007

"Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to direct the Secretary of Education to award grants to nursing schools to enhance their capacity to accommodate additional students in: (1) Registered Nurse (RN) associate or baccalaureate degree programs; or (2) graduate programs for prospective teachers of nursing or RNs who seek advanced practice degrees. Bases the amount of a school's grant on the extent to which the school increases its enrollment of nursing students for an academic year over its average nursing student enrollment for the four preceding academic years. Prohibits the use of grants to construct new facilities."
(GovTrack.US)

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