Federal grants fund doula and midwife training for low-income workers
H.R. 5406 — Opportunities to Support Mothers and Deliver Children Act · Filed by Gwen Moore (D-WI) · Introduced Sep 16, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Social Security Act to create a new $10 million federal grant program funding demonstration projects that train low-income individuals (earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level) to become doulas, midwives, or other pregnancy and postpartum care workers. Eligible organizations—including workforce boards, hospitals, nonprofits, tribal entities, and health centers—can apply to run 3+ year training programs in states that recognize and pay for doula and midwife services. The bill funds rigorous evaluation of these projects to identify best practices for creating sustainable, well-paying career pathways in maternal health.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core mechanism is a federal grant program designed to fund education and training for low-income workers entering maternal health professions. It is structured as a demonstration project with evaluation requirements, consistent with workforce development legislation under the Social Security Act.
What the text implies
- Program success depends on state-level recognition of doulas and midwives; states without such recognition cannot participate, potentially widening geographic disparities in access to training.
- Evaluation requirement may generate evidence supporting broader policy expansion of doula/midwife coverage under Medicaid and private insurance, affecting healthcare payment models.
- Training programs may create credential inflation or standardization pressure on doula/midwife certification, potentially affecting existing practitioners without formal credentials.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Low-income individuals gain access to funded education and training leading to certified, wage-earning careers in maternal health—a sector with documented workforce shortages and high demand. The program targets populations historically excluded from professional pathways and funds rigorous evaluation to ensure quality and sustainability.
Who stands to gain
- eligible training entities (nonprofits, hospitals, health centers, workforce boards)
- low-income individuals entering doula/midwife careers (wage and employment gains)
Named in the bill
Department of Health and Human Services (Secretary), Department of Labor (Secretary), Department of Education (Secretary), Local Workforce Development Boards, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Hospitals and Skilled Nursing Facilities, Nonprofit Organizations (501(c)(3)), Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Institutions of Higher Education, International Confederation of Midwives, Indian Health Care Improvement Act
Where it stands
- Sep 16, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 16, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $0 in lobbying spend. A filing names 33 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 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Gwen Moore, the sponsor, reported $754,653 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Nebraska Hospital Association — $0 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 13, 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 (5,991 characters) on Oct 3, 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 Dec 2025 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 13, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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