Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici Earns National Honor with the 2025 NLN Award for Public Policy Advancement

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici Earns National Honor with the 2025 NLN Award for Public Policy Advancement

Oregon Lawmaker Has Served as a Strong Advocate for Increasing Educational Opportunities in Nursing & Addressing the Social Determinants of Health

Washington, DC — Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, who represents the First Congressional District of Oregon in the House of Representatives, has been honored with the 2025 National League for Nursing Public Policy Advancement Award. This annual award honors Congress members who contribute to the advancement of health care, nursing, and nursing education in the United States.

Throughout her public service, Representative Bonamici has been driven by values that align with the League’s call for society to address the social determinants of health. These include broadening educational opportunities, including in academic nursing, along with equitable access to public health resources and protections for clean air and water.

In their letter to Representative Bonamici, NLN Chair Yolanda VanRiel, PhD, RN, MEDSURG-BC, OCN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN, chair of the Department of Nursing, North Carolina Central University and patient placement coordinator at First Health of the Carolinas-Moore Regional Hospital, and NLN President and CEO Beverly Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, praised her outstanding, decades-long legislative career, highlighting her notable contributions to nursing, nursing education, and the advancement of our nation’s health:

“The National League for Nursing is particularly grateful for your leadership as co-chair of the Congressional Nursing Caucus and as a sponsor of the “Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2025,” the “Improving Care and Access to Nurses (I CAN) Act,” the “Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Reauthorization Act,” and the “Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act,” as well as numerous bills to improve student financial assistance, maternal and mental health services, and address environmental health. Your commitment to improving patients’ access to health care and to strengthening nursing education and practice makes you a truly worthy recipient of this recognition. The National League for Nursing deeply appreciates your exemplary leadership and service, and we look forward to continuing to work with you to advance our nation’s health care.”

Dating back to her election to the Oregon State Legislature in 2006 and continuing in the U.S. Congress, beginning in 2012, Representative Bonamici has made it her quest to achieve social and economic justice for the citizens of Oregon, as well as more broadly, across America. She was among the driving forces behind the passage of the “Every Student Succeeds Act,” which replaced “No Child Left Behind,”, serving in the leadership of the Education and the Workforce Committee, including as a ranking member of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee and as a member of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development.

Representative Bonamici has also been a steadfast advocate for women, working families, and retirees, supporting policies and legislation to safeguard reproductive care; protect Medicare and Social Security; increase the minimum wage; make higher education affordable; and reduce the cost of childcare.

In the environmental area, where the effects of climate change, like natural disasters, are seen to disproportionately harm marginalized sectors of the population and have been linked to declining health, Representative Bonamici has been a vocal presence on the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and as a leader on the Subcommittee on Environment and Subcommittee on Research and Technology, within her portfolio as a senior member of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

From these positions, she defends science, addresses the causes and consequences of climate change, and seeks to ensure that policy decisions are based on independent and verifiable scholarship. As co-chair of the House Oceans Caucus and Congressional Estuary Caucus, she helps raise awareness of issues that particularly impact coastal communities, such as her district in coastal Oregon, which also encompasses surrounding at-risk counties within Washington State.

For more information about the National League for Nursing Public Policy Agenda, visit NLN.org.

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