Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2008

Contact:
Jennifer Kohl
202.225.4289 or 202.225.4025
Trudy Perkins
410.685.9199 or 202.225.4641

Cummings Denounces President's Proposed Cuts to Nursing Programs

Washington, D.C. — Below are the prepared remarks of Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (Md.-07) for a press conference this morning denouncing President Bush’s proposed $46 million in cuts to critical nursing programs through Title VIII funding. Title VIII provides the largest source of federal funding for nursing education, offering financial support for nursing education programs, individual students, and nurses. Such funding is essential in addressing the nursing shortage currently plaguing the State of Maryland—which is projected to experience a shortage of more than 17,000 nurses in the next four years.

Remarks of Congressman Elijah Cummings

Press Conference

Denouncing Proposed Cuts to Nursing

10:30 A.M., Thursday, May 8, 2008

1732 Longworth House Office Building

Washington, D.C.

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I am honored to join my distinguished colleague

Nearly 3 million registered nurses are on the front lines of our nation’s health care system—at bedsides across this country and abroad in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nurses provide critical care to the sick, the injured, the elderly and the newly born.

They are leaders in addressing our nation’s most pressing public health challenges.

Nurses bring messages of prevention and healthful living to ordinary citizens at home, at work, and at school—as well as in the doctor’s office and in the hospital.

Notably, nurses are also educators within their own ranks—teaching and training the next generation of nurses who are coming up behind them.

Unfortunately, our national commitment to the nursing profession fails to parallel the significant role it plays in our society.

As a result, we are in the midst of a nursing crisis in this country.

The Health Resources and Services Administration projects that the nation’s nursing shortage will grow to more than one million nurses by the year 2020.

In our home state of Maryland, there is a current shortage of more than 3,000 nurses—over 2,000 of whom are needed in hospitals alone.

Further, if current trends continue, the Nursing Workforce Project forecasts that Maryland will experience a shortage of more than 17,000 registered nurses by the year 2012.

We simply must step up our efforts to bring more individuals into the nursing profession.

That is why we were dismayed that the President proposed a devastating 30 percent cut to the Nursing Workforce Development Initiative, or Title VIII of the Public Health Service Act.

In the 44 years since Title VIII began, it has addressed every aspect of the nursing shortage—education, practice, retention, and recruitment.

At this critical juncture in our national nursing shortage, the need to fully fund Title VIII could not be more clear.

That is why I am pleased to join my colleagues in advocating for $200 million in funding for Title VIII.

from Maryland—and our friends from the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing—in this important event to denounce the President’s proposed budget cuts to nursing.

* * *

Our nursing institutions in Maryland are some of the finest in the nation.

U.S. News and World Report

Yet despite this legacy of excellence, our nursing schools are suffering.

We have a situation at the Coppin State University School of Nursing in my District in which highly qualified students are literally being turned away because the school cannot afford to admit them.

That is why our Maryland team has consistently advocated for increased funding for nursing.

In Fiscal Year 2008, I secured $750,000 for the University of Maryland School of Nursing and $225,000 for the Coppin State University School of Nursing.

In 2007, I was proud to present the Coppin State University School of Nursing with a check for $638,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The check was the first installment of two 3-year grants totaling over $1.7 million.

In Fiscal Year 2005, I secured $297,600 for the Howard County Community College to expand its nursing program, allowing for the school to reduce its waiting list by 50 percent.

Finally, I am a member of the Advisory Committee for the Yale-Howard Nursing Partnership Center to Reduce Health Disparities by Self and Family Management.

We have made this commitment to nursing because we have long recognized the critical role that nurses play in our health care system—and in society at large.

I appreciate that my Maryland colleagues support me in this effort and I assure you that we will do all in our power to fight this Administration’s ill advised budget cuts.

Thank you.

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has ranked the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing second in the country for its community health nursing programs and fourth for its graduate nursing programs.

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