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1. The Nurses in the US Congress Essay
The Nurses in the US Congress EssayThe Nurses in the US Congress Essay“The members of
the legislative department …. are numerous. They are distributed and dwell among the
people at large. Their connections of blood, of friendship, and of acquaintance embrace a
great proportion of the most influential part of the society … they are more immediately the
confidential guardians of their rights and liberties.”James MadisonThe U.S. Congress is
elected to represent the people of the United States in regularly held democratic elections.
There are two houses, the House of Representatives which has 435 voting members serving
2-year terms, and the Senate which has 100 voting members serving 6-year terms. The
113th Congress, elected in November 2012, includes members of many professions,
predominantly business, law, public service and politics, and education. However, there are
also a number of health care professionals: 19 physicians, 2 dentists, 1 psychiatrist, and 6
nurses (Manning, 2014). The first U.S. Congress met in 1789. In 1992, 203 years later, Eddie
Bernice Johnson (Figure 42-1) became the first nurse elected to serve in the U.S. Congress.
Congresswoman Johnson (D-TX-30) continues to serve, now joined by Karen Bass (D-CA-
33) (Figure 42-2), Diane Black (R-TN-06) (Figure 42-3), Lois Capps (D-CA-23) (Figure 42-
4), Renee Ellmers (R-NC-02) (Figure 42-5), and Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY-04) (Figure 42-
6).Although elected to represent their constituents, Congress as a whole does not always
reflect the population characteristics of the nation (Heineman, Peterson, & Rasmussen,
1995). For example, 51% of the 2010 U.S. population was female (U.S. Census Bureau,
2010). However, only 18.7% of the 113th Congress was female (Manning, 2014).
Fortunately, nursing is well represented in Congress. With 3.1 million nurses in the U.S.
(American Nurses Association, 2011), at least 4 nurses would have been expected in the
113th Congress and 6 were elected.ORDER NOW FOR CUSTOMIZED, PLAGIARISM-FREE
PAPERSThe Nurses in CongressNursing is diverse, and the six nurses who served in the
113th Congress reflect that diversity. Rep. Johnson’s background is in psychiatry,
Representatives Elmer and McCarthy were intensive care nurses, Rep. Black’s background
is emergency nursing, Rep. Capps was a school and community nurse, and Rep. Bass was a
nurse before becoming a physician’s assistant. The six nurses who served in the 113th
Congress arrived at their positions through uniquely different paths. One replaced a spouse
who died while serving in Congress, another ran for office after the incumbent refused to
take a stand on gun control following an act of gun violence that killed her husband, several
ran for Congress after serving at the state level, and one ran for office because of deeply
held opinions on patient rights and access to health care. The Nurses in the US Congress

2. EssayThe Honorable Karen BassCongressmember Bass is a former nurse, physician’s
assistant, and nonprofit community activism organization founder who was elected to her
second term in the House of Representatives in 2012. She serves California’s 37th
Congressional District which includes parts of Central, West, and South Los Angeles. Before
Rep. Bass was elected to Congress, she served in the California Assembly, where she earned
the distinction of being the first African-American woman in U.S. history to be elected to the
powerful role of state Speaker. She serves on the Steering and Policy Committee, which sets
policy for the Democratic Caucus and also serves in the Congressional Black Caucus as the
Whip for the 113th Congress (Bass, 2014a).Rep. Bass has taken a strong stand on health
care with consistent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the introduction of legislation to
increase health care technology in underserved communities, and cosponsoring legislation
to improve education on sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies. A life-
long advocate for foster children, she founded the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, a
bipartisan effort with the goals of overhauling the nation’s foster system and providing
advocacy for the needs of the nation’s foster children (Bass, 2014b).The Honorable Diane
BlackDiane Black was elected to the Tennessee 6th Congressional District in 2010, on a
platform of small government and limited taxes (Black, 2014a). Rep. Black is one of three
female U.S. Representatives that use the term title Congressman instead of Congresswoman.
Rep. Black has been a registered nurse for over 40 years. She began her career in the
emergency department in 1971 and worked as a nurse until 1998, when she was elected to
the Tennessee House of Representatives. Rep. Black is a member of the House Committee
on Ways and Means and its Subcommittee on Oversight, as well as the Committee on Budget
(GOP.gov, 2013).Rep. Black represents a constituency that believes that the ACA should be
repealed and replaced by market-based health care reform (GOP.gov, 2013). Health care
legislation that she has sponsored includes Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition, which
would prohibit agencies performing abortions from receiving federal family planning
assistance; the Health Care Conscience Rights Act, which would prohibit requiring people to
purchase health insurance covering abortions; and the Safety Net Abuse Prevention Act of
2013, to terminate the Partnership for Nutrition Assistance Initiative between the United
States and Mexico (Black, 2014b).The Honorable Lois CappsCongresswoman Lois Capps
was a school nurse in Santa Barbara, California, a nursing instructor in Portland, Oregon,
holds an MA in Religion from Yale University, and maintains her registered nurse license.
She won her seat in the House of Representatives in a special election resulting from the
death of her husband, Walter Capps. She holds influential seats on the Committee on Energy
and Commerce and the Health, Energy and Power, and Environment and the Economy
subcommittees. Rep. Capps maintains that her health care background is very influential in
informing her work in Congress. She is also the cochair of the House Cancer Caucus, the
Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition, as well as a founding member of the
Congressional Nursing Caucus, the Infant Health and Safety Caucus, and the School Health
and Safety Caucus (Capps, 2014a).Lois Capps’s legislative priorities include better schools,
quality health care, and a cleaner environment. Through her leadership in public health, she
has sponsored legislation to reduce the nation’s nursing shortage, protect victims of
domestic violence, decrease underage drinking, improve mental health services, and

3. improve Medicare coverage for people with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Rep. Capps states that she
is committed to increasing access to affordable health coverage and working toward quality
health care availability for everyone. According to Rep. Capps, “Our nation’s health care
system is broken, but through health care reform we are now taking critical steps to repair
it.” (Capps, 2014b)The Honorable Renee EllmersCongresswoman Ellmers was elected in
2010 to serve the constituents of North Carolina’s second District in the U.S. House of
Representatives. Rep. Ellmers worked as a nurse for 21 years, first in surgical intensive
care, and then with her husband in their general surgery practice. She became interested in
politics as a result of health care reform and ran for office on a platform that included
repealing the ACA, lowering health care costs, increasing health care access, protecting the
physician-patient relationship, and reducing government spending. She serves on the House
Energy and Commerce Committee, the Health, Communications, and Technology
Subcommittee, and the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee (Ellmers, 2014a). The
Nurses in the US Congress Essay