Federal funding expands midwife training in underserved maternity deserts

What it does

This bill authorizes $15 million over five years to fund midwifery schools and programs at institutions of higher education, and $20 million over five years to fund nurse-midwifery programs at schools of nursing. Both grant programs prioritize institutions serving health professional shortage areas and increasing racial and ethnic diversity in midwifery education. The bill expands the federal definition of eligible health professions schools to include standalone midwifery programs.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward federal grant funding to expand midwifery education capacity in underserved areas. It is a direct public-health investment with no private carve-outs, tax benefits, or liability shields.

What the text implies

• Prioritizing shortage-area practice may create geographic clustering of midwife training, potentially leaving some regions underserved if institutions concentrate in already-resourced areas.
• The $35 million total authorization over five years is modest relative to national maternity care gaps; actual impact depends on appropriations and institutional uptake.
• Nurse-midwifery programs (Title VIII) receive $20M vs. standalone midwifery programs (Title VII) receiving $15M, reflecting existing regulatory/educational hierarchy but potentially limiting independent midwifery expansion.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary people gain expanded access to maternity care, particularly in underserved rural and low-income areas where midwives are critical to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. The bill's explicit priority for health professional shortage areas and racial/ethnic diversity in education directly targets populations with the worst maternity outcomes.

Who stands to gain

• institutions of higher education (grant recipients)
• schools of nursing (grant recipients)

Named in the bill

Secretary of Health and Human Services, institutions of higher education, schools of nursing, accredited midwifery schools and programs, certified nurse-midwives, health professional shortage areas (HPSA)

Where it stands

5 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 1 Republicans.

• May 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
• May 5, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

4 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $1,139,067 in lobbying spend. A filing names 60 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 72% of bills with at least one filing.

Ben Luján, the sponsor, reported $1,927,894 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Association of Nurse Practitioners — $950,000 on 2 filings
• American Association of Colleges of Nursing — $90,000 on 1 filing
• Center for Reproductive Rights — $70,000 on 1 filing
• National League for Nursing — $29,067 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.