U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky spoke in defense of widespread health care access at Evanston’s “No Kings” protest in June.
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Evanston) reintroduced legislation to increase health care access on Wednesday in the House of Representatives amid nationwide concerns of dwindling federal support.
The bill, known as the Educating Medical Professionals and Optimizing Workforce Efficiency and Readiness, or EMPOWER for Health Act, is meant to increase the quantity and diversity of health care providers for varied populations, according to a Wednesday news release.
“Right now, too many communities across the country face a shortage of healthcare providers,” Schakowsky said in the missive. “This is unacceptable for our growing, aging population, for children and for all Americans.”
The bill would reauthorize Title VII funding for workforce training programs from Fiscal Year 2026 through Fiscal Year 2030, provide loan repayment for professionals who agree to work at least two years in pediatric medicine and promote enrollment in medical career programs.
The bill was previously introduced in May 2019 under the 116th Congress, and had passed the then-Democratic-controlled House in October of that year. However, after being read twice in the then-Republican-controlled Senate, it was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Health care access remains a fraught issue as the House debated the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump by the Fourth of July. The bill, which has been denounced by Democrats across the country, would institute federally mandated work requirements to Medicaid for the first time and cut federal funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
Schakowsky, who announced this would be her fourteenth and final term in the House, denounced the “big ugly bill” in a Thursday news release after House Republicans passed it, saying the cuts proposed would result in hospital closures and would endanger health care access for the district’s nearly 150,000 Medicaid recipients.
“This bill will cause health care workers to lose jobs, hospitals to become overwhelmed and close and will impact care for all Americans — all in the name of tax cuts for the wealthy,” Schakowsky said in Thursday’s missive.
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