S. 4568

Summary

S. 4568, the Nursing is a Professional Degree Act, was introduced in the Senate on May 19, 2026 by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) with 7 co-sponsors. It was referred to Health, Education, Labor, And Pensions, and last saw action on May 19, 2026: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Record

Text

S. 4568 has 7 co-sponsors.

119 S4568 IS: Nursing is a Professional Degree Act
 U.S. Senate
 2026-05-19
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 II  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  S. 4568  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   May 19, 2026   Mr. Merkley  (for himself,  Mr. Wicker ,  Ms. Lummis ,  Ms. Murkowski , and  Ms. Collins ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions    A BILL
To amend the definition of professional student in the Higher Education Act of 1965.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Nursing is a Professional Degree Act  .
2.
Professional student and professional degree defined
Section 455(a)(4)(C) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 ( 20 U.S.C. 1087e(a)(4)(C) ) is amended—
(1)
in clause (ii), by striking  , as defined under section 668.2 of title 34, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this paragraph), ; and
(2)
by adding at the end the following:
(iii)
Professional degree
In this paragraph, the term  professional degree  —
(I)
means a degree that signifies both completion of the academic requirements for beginning practice in a given profession (for which professional licensure is also commonly required), and a level of professional skill beyond that normally required for a bachelor’s degree; and
(II)
includes each of the following:
(aa)
Pharmacy (Pharm.D.).
(bb)
Dentistry (D.D.S. or D.M.D.).
(cc)
Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.).
(dd)
Chiropractic (D.C. or D.C.M.).
(ee)
Law (L.L.B. or J.D.).
(ff)
Medicine (M.D.).
(gg)
Optometry (O.D.).
(hh)
Osteopathic Medicine or Osteopathy (D.O.).
(ii)
Podiatric Medicine or Podiatry (D.P.M., D.P., or Pod.D.).
(jj)
Theology or Theological Studies (M.Div. or M.H.L.).
(kk)
Clinical Psychology (Psy.D. or Ph.D.).
(ll)
Nursing (MSN, DNP, DNAP, or Ph.D).
(mm)
Any other degree that meets the requirements of subclause (I), as determined by the Secretary.
 .

Tracker

The tracker indicates the progress of this legislation as it moves through the legislative process.

A bill to amend the definition of professional student in the Higher Education Act of 1965.

Sponsors

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) sponsors S. 4568, and 7 members have co-sponsored it, 4 of them from the day it was introduced.

Jeff Merkley

Sen. · D–OR · Sponsor

Introduced May 19, 2026

Susan Collins

Sen. · R–ME · Co-sponsor

Joined May 19, 2026 · Original

Cynthia Lummis

Sen. · R–WY · Co-sponsor

Joined May 19, 2026 · Original

Lisa Murkowski

Sen. · R–AK · Co-sponsor

Joined May 19, 2026 · Original

Roger Wicker

Sen. · R–MS · Co-sponsor

Joined May 19, 2026 · Original

Sheldon Whitehouse

Sen. · D–RI · Co-sponsor

Joined Jun 1, 2026

John Fetterman

Sen. · D–PA · Co-sponsor

Joined Jun 23, 2026

Kevin Cramer

Sen. · R–ND · Co-sponsor

Joined Jul 15, 2026

Show 8 of 8 rows

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Committees

S. 4568 went before 1 committee: Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Referred To · May 19, 2026 · 747 Bills

Actions

S. 4568 has taken 2 actions since May 19, 2026.

Votes

S. 4568 has not gone to a roll call.

Related bills

2 bills are related to S. 4568.

HR 8659Nursing is a Professional Degree ActMay 4, 2026 · Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. · Related billHR 8691Nursing is a Professional Degree ActMay 7, 2026 · Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. · Related bill

Show 2 of 2 rows

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Titles

S. 4568 goes by 3 titles, 1 of them short titles.

• Nursing is a Professional Degree Act — Display Title
• Nursing is a Professional Degree Act — Short Title(s) as Introduced
• A bill to amend the definition of professional student in the Higher Education Act of 1965. — Official Title as Introduced

Lobbying

15 clients hired 15 firms and 76 registered lobbyists who named S. 4568 in 20 quarterly filings, 2026. Reported under the Lobbying Disclosure Act; a filing’s income covers everything its registrant worked that quarter, so the amounts below are the filings’, not this bill’s.

Filed under Health Issues, Budget/Appropriations, Medicare/Medicaid, Education, Taxation/Internal Revenue Code, Labor Issues/Antitrust/Workplace, Veterans, Immigration.

Clients

Who paid to be heard, by how many filings named the bill.

Firms

Registrants who filed on the bill, by filings.

Lobbyists

Named on the filings that cite the bill. The 20 named most often, of 76.

Filings

The documents themselves, on the Senate’s Lobbying Disclosure site, largest reported first.

Classification

The Congressional Research Service files S. 4568 under Health, one of its 31 policy areas.

CRS Subjects

CRS assigns every bill one policy area from its 31; S. 4568’s is Health.

Source: congress.gov · legiscan.com