Congress orders a study of nursing shortage, but no action plan
H.R. 3333 — MORE Nurses Act · Filed by Jim Costa (D-CA) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced May 13, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill directs the National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice to study the U.S. nursing shortage, examine federal policies affecting nursing education and workforce capacity, and deliver a public report with recommendations within one year. The bill creates no new funding, no new programs, and no direct benefits to any party—it is purely a fact-finding and advisory mandate.
Why we flagged it
The bill does not create law, funding, or binding policy—it is a directive to an existing advisory body to study a problem and report. This is a transparency and information-gathering instrument, not a substantive legislative change.
What the text implies
- The bill does not authorize new funding for the Council's work; implementation depends on existing appropriations and staff capacity, which may limit the scope or timeliness of the study.
- The report is advisory only—Congress and HHS are not bound to act on recommendations, so the bill's impact depends entirely on whether policymakers choose to follow up.
- The one-year deadline is tight for a comprehensive workforce assessment; the Council may produce a preliminary or limited report rather than a full analysis.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates transparency and accountability by requiring a public report on a genuine public-health problem (nursing shortage), which benefits citizens by informing policy debate. However, the bill itself creates no obligation to act on the recommendations, no funding for solutions, and no enforcement mechanism—so the civic benefit is limited to information, not remedy.
Named in the bill
National Advisory Council on Nurse Education and Practice, Public Health Service Act (section 851), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Congress, President
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 5 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
- May 13, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- May 13, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $53,067 in lobbying spend. A filing names 94 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.
Jim Costa, the sponsor, reported $855,144 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- National League for Nursing — $29,067 on 1 filing
- National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners — $24,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,055 characters) on Aug 14, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress orders a study of nursing shortage, but no action plan” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr3333 Report an error
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