December 14, 2023 by Dave Mason

Members of Congress headed home for the holidays without agreeing on funding for federal nursing education and research programs or completing any of the 12 annual appropriations bills for the 2024 fiscal year that started Oct. 1. When they return to Capitol Hill in January, lawmakers will have fewer than 10 legislative days before current funding for programs under the Agriculture-FDA, Military Construction-VA, Energy and Water, and Transportation-Housing measures will end Jan. 19. 

Two weeks later, the money for nursing programs in the Department of Health and Human Services budget will run out on Feb. 2, along with funds for other programs in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill and seven other measures. Speaker Mike Johnson has vowed that the House won’t pass any more stopgap extensions if the appropriations bills aren’t done by then, calling instead for a full-year continuation of current funding under spending caps that would cut more than $73 billion in funding across all non-defense domestic programs.

There has been no movement on funding for nursing programs since Republican leaders pulled their Labor-HHS-Education spending bill (H.R. 5894) from the House floor, lacking the votes to pass it. That bill would cut $19.4 million from Title VIII nursing workforce programs, eliminating funding for the Nursing Workforce Diversity Program. The Senate adjourned for the holidays without taking up its Labor-HHS bill (S. 2624) after its Appropriations Committee proposed a $2 million increase in the Title VIII programs. The NLN is continuing to urge lawmakers to pass a final fiscal 2024 spending agreement that provides no less than the Senate’s $302.47 million for the Title VIII programs and at least $197.69 million for the National Institute of Nursing Research.