Hospital and nurse advocacy groups are lobbying lawmakers to maintain increased funding levels for nursing education in the fiscal year 2008 Labor-HHS-Education (HR 3043) appropriations bill, CQ Today reports. American Hospital Association data shows that in December 2006 there were an estimated 116,000 vacant positions for registered nurses nationwide. According to an HHS report, the U.S. will need more than 2.8 million registered nurses in 2020 but could have as few as 1.8 million as more nurses retire while demand increases.

The appropriations bill that President Bush vetoed last month would have provided $168 million to the Nursing Workforce Development program, a 12% increase from the $150 million allotted in recent years. The program pays for nurses to earn advanced degrees and provides aid to some lower-income students planning on entering the profession.

Bush's proposal allocated $105.3 million to the program, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. According to AACN and the National League for Nursing, nursing schools in the U.S. last year rejected more than 40,000 qualified applicants because of a lack of teachers, classrooms and training spaces, as well as budgetary constraints (Young, CQ Today, 12/5).