John,

As we come to the end of National Nurses Week, I want to speak not only in celebration of the heroes who are the soul of our healthcare system, but in urgent defense of them.

Across Delaware and our country, nurses are the steady voice guiding you through crisis, and often, the last ones standing when the system fails. Right now, that very system is under a calculated attack by Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress.

Under their leadership, the Department of Health and Human Services has been stripped of vital expertise, guided instead by political loyalty. Trump appointed an unqualified HHS Secretary while gutting evidence-based committees like the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. This leaves our hospitals less prepared and our nurses without the guidance they need to protect lives.

The Delaware Nurses Association called the federal cuts to healthcare “deeply disturbing,” and for good reason. At a time when our nurses need more support and more investment, Trump has turned away from science and facts by pulling us out of the World Health Organization, kneecapping the National Institute of Nursing Research, and undermining education pipelines that ensure future generations of nurses are ready to lead.

I wish this message could be one of celebration alone, but to truly honor our nurses, we must confront these threats head-on. If you believe that we must stand with our nurses, I’m asking you to add your name today. Help me show that we will not be silent while their work is devalued and their profession dismantled >>