Congressional Bills Aim to Tackle Drug and Healthcare Provider Shortages in 2025

Right now, over 287 drugs are in short supply across the U.S., and nearly half of them are life-saving medications - antibiotics, cancer treatments, heart drugs. Hospitals are rationing doses. Patients are getting delayed care. And Congress? Two bills have been introduced to fix this, but they’re stuck in limbo - not because they’re flawed, but because the government has been shut down for over 40 days.

The Drug Shortage Prevention Act of 2025 (S.2665)

The most concrete attempt to stop drug shortages is Drug Shortage Prevention Act of 2025, introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar in August. It doesn’t promise new money. It doesn’t force factories to make more pills. Instead, it asks manufacturers to speak up sooner.

Here’s how it works: if a company sees demand for a critical drug suddenly spike - say, because of a flu outbreak or a new clinical guideline - they’d have to notify the FDA within 72 hours. Right now, many companies wait until they’re already running out. By then, it’s too late. The FDA can’t scramble fast enough. This bill wants to give them a heads-up.

The idea isn’t new. The FDA already has a Drug Shortage Portal. But it’s outdated. And since the shutdown began in October, the system hasn’t been updated. Staff who monitor shortages have been furloughed. So even if a company called in today, no one would be there to act.

The bill’s strength? It targets the root cause: 63% of shortages come from manufacturing delays, not lack of demand. If companies report early, the FDA could help them find alternative suppliers, speed up inspections, or even temporarily waive certain rules. But without funding - an estimated $45 million a year - the FDA can’t hire staff to manage the new system. And with the federal budget in chaos, that money isn’t coming anytime soon.

The Health Care Provider Shortage Minimization Act (H.R.1160)

If S.2665 is about pills, H.R.1160 is about people. There are 122 million Americans living in areas where there aren’t enough doctors, nurses, or primary care providers. That’s not a future problem. It’s happening now. In rural towns, patients drive three hours for a blood pressure check. In cities, ERs are overwhelmed because there aren’t enough nurses to staff them.

But here’s the problem: no one knows what H.R.1160 actually says. The bill was introduced in the House in August. Its title is clear. But Congress.gov has no summary. LegiScan has no committee assignment. No sponsors beyond the introducer. No text published. It’s a ghost bill.

Experts believe it’s meant to expand training programs, offer loan forgiveness for providers who work in underserved areas, or loosen licensing rules across state lines. These are proven tools. The National Health Service Corps has placed over 15,000 providers in shortage areas since 2010. The American Association of Medical Colleges predicts a shortfall of 124,000 doctors by 2034. So the need is real. But without a draft, no one can support it. No one can oppose it. It’s just sitting there.

Why Nothing’s Moving

The biggest reason these bills aren’t advancing? The longest government shutdown in U.S. history. It started October 1, 2025. Over 800,000 federal workers are furloughed - including every single person at the FDA who tracks drug shortages, every staffer at HRSA who maps provider gaps, and every budget analyst who could tell Congress whether these bills are affordable.

Meanwhile, Congress is busy with other things. House Republicans pushed a vote to let senators sue over phone records. The Senate proposed a continuing resolution that extends funding - but only through January 30, 2026 - with zero mention of drug or provider shortages. The Stop Secret Spending Act? That’s getting attention. But it’s about Treasury transparency, not medicine.

Healthcare organizations are screaming. The American Hospital Association says 98% of hospitals faced at least one critical drug shortage in Q3 2025. The AMA survey found 87% of physicians are seeing real harm - patients getting weaker antibiotics, delayed cancer treatments, insulin substitutions that don’t work as well. But 88% of those doctors had never heard of H.R.1160. And most don’t know S.2665 even exists.

What’s at Stake

If these bills die - and they likely will if the shutdown lasts past January - we’re looking at a repeat of past crises. In 2019, shortages of generic injectable antibiotics led to higher death rates in hospitals. In 2022, a shortage of pediatric asthma inhalers forced parents to ration doses. Both were predictable. Both were preventable.

Today, the same patterns are repeating. The FDA knows which drugs are most vulnerable. The manufacturers know when their supply chains are strained. The providers know when patients are suffering. But without a legal requirement to act early - and without government staff to respond - nothing changes.

Even if the shutdown ends next week, these bills are still in early stages. They’ll need hearings, amendments, votes. And they’ll need money. The current budget deficit is $1.74 trillion. Lawmakers are cutting foreign aid and public media. They’re not adding $45 million to save lives.

What Comes Next

There’s no magic fix. But here’s what could help:

• Public pressure: Call your rep. Ask if they support S.2665. Ask why H.R.1160 is invisible.
• Transparency: Demand the full text of H.R.1160 be published. No more ghost bills.
• Funding: Push for emergency appropriations to restart the FDA’s shortage monitoring system - even without new laws.
• State action: Some states are already creating their own drug shortage registries. More should follow.

The system isn’t broken because we don’t know how to fix it. We know how. We’ve done it before. We just stopped caring - until someone’s parent couldn’t get their chemo. Until a child couldn’t get their epinephrine. Until a nurse had to choose which patient got the last dose.

These bills aren’t radical. They’re basic. They’re common sense. And right now, they’re sitting in the dark, while the country waits.