President's FY 2006 Budget Cuts $1 Million from Nurse Workforce Development Programs
Total insufficient to meet the nation's nursing needs
Silver Spring, MD - The American Nurses Association (ANA) today expressed its disappointment with the funding levels for programs to enhance the recruitment and retention of nurses in President Bush's proposed fiscal year (FY) 2006 budget. The President's budget was submitted to Congress on Feb. 7.
The president's budget provides $150 million for nursing workforce development programs including the Nurse Reinvestment Act. That figure represents a cut of $1 million over the FY 2005 funding level. "With a predicted nursing shortage of more than 275,000 RNs by the year 2010, this is the wrong time to be cutting back our investment in this country's future nurses," said ANA President Barbara Blakeney, MS, RN. "The need for a well-educated and professional nursing workforce will increase dramatically in the coming years," she added.
The president's proposed funding is insufficient to address the increasing nursing shortage. ANA and other nursing organizations hope to work with Congress and the Administration to secure a significant increase.
The president's FY 2006 budget proposal includes nearly $32 million for loan repayments and scholarships (the same as FY 2005) and $8 million for geriatric nurse education and nurse faculty loan-repayment programs ($1 million cut).
Nurse faculty recruitment is critical to increase the capacity of the nation's nursing schools. More than 26,000 qualified applicants were turned away from entry-level baccalaureate nursing programs in 2004, in large part due to insufficient numbers of faculty.
The proposed budget also reflects some redistribution of funding between basic and advanced nursing education. "ANA agrees with the need to support programs aimed at attracting new people into the nursing profession but that should not be at the expense of programs that retain and support our advanced practice nurses," Blakeney said.
ANA commended the president's proposed funding level of $21 million for nursing diversity programs (an increase of $5 million) and $139 million for the National Institute of Nursing Research (a $1 million increase).
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The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.7 million Registered Nurses (RNs) through its 54 constituent member associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.