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Did former President Trump take actions to remove nursing from being classified as a professional job?
Executive summary
Reporting shows multiple Trump administration policies and actions since 2019 and into 2025 that critics say reduce protections, labor rights, loan support, or classification benefits for nurses — but the sources do not describe a single, explicit act by former President Trump that simply “removed nursing from being classified as a professional job” on its face (available sources do not mention a single declarative action that reclassifies all nursing as non‑professional) [1] [2] [3] [4]. Key concrete items in the record include: executive orders and policy moves affecting federal labor relations for VA and other federal nurses (cited as targeting agencies with “national security missions”) [1], a federal buyout/deferred‑resignation program that at times included then exempted many VA health jobs [2], and a Department of Education change reported in November 2025 excluding nursing from the “professional degree” label in federal loan rules [4] [3].
1. What sources actually document — administrative moves, not an outright reclassification decree
Reporting describes a set of administrative and regulatory steps that affect nurses’ labor rights, pay or student‑loan treatment rather than a single legal redefinition of nursing as non‑professional. For example, a March 27, 2025 executive order titled “Exclusions from Federal Labor‑Management Relations Programs” targeted agencies with “national security missions,” explicitly naming the VA and potentially affecting more than 1 million federal employees including VA nurses [1]. Separately, the Department of Education’s November 2025 action excluding nursing from the definition of “professional degree” under student‑loan rules has been reported as changing how nursing degrees are treated for loan programs [4] [3].
2. Labor and bargaining rights: narrowing federal protections for VA and other nurses
Nursing organizations and observers warned that the administration’s executive orders and agency reorganizations reduced tools that protect collective bargaining and dispute resolution — for example, moves that gutted the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service and removed or narrowed labor‑management programs for agencies labeled as national security‑mission entities — which union advocates say makes it harder for nurses to negotiate and defend working conditions [1] [5]. These are policy changes affecting how nursing jobs are protected or negotiated, not a straight occupational title change [1] [5].
3. Personnel actions: buyouts and “deferred resignation” programs that touched VA health staff
The administration’s accelerated buyout and deferred‑resignation initiatives in early 2025 included provisions that initially reached many federal employees, with later lists and court actions excluding or exempting certain clinical roles like nurses and physicians at the VA — though some reporting notes over 1,000 VA workers were released in February 2025 amid the broader downsizing push [2]. That sequence shows shifting policy application and legal challenges rather than an across‑the‑board occupational demotion [2].
4. Student‑loan and degree classification: a concrete change that affects nursing education support
Newsweek and the American Nurses Association (ANA) statement (Nov 2025) document a Department of Education rule that excludes nursing programs from the federal “professional degree” category for loan eligibility, a change the ANA says jeopardizes efforts to expand the nursing workforce and that commentators call a “gut punch” to nursing students [4] [3]. This is a specific administrative determination about loan classification and benefits for nursing degrees, and sources link it to broader administration student‑loan policy [4] [3].
5. Immigration, scope‑of‑practice and workforce context that amplify effects
Separate Trump administration positions on immigration and recommendations around scope‑of‑practice have indirect effects on workforce supply and nurse roles: proposed immigration tightening could reduce foreign‑born direct‑care workers relied upon by nursing homes [6] [7], while some earlier administration actions sought to change APRN/NP scope or payment reviews — actions that advocates view differently depending on whether they expand clinical autonomy or reduce regulatory protections [8] [9].
6. Competing interpretations and political framing
Advocates for nurses (e.g., ANA, unions) present these moves as undermining nursing as a profession and reducing protections, pointing to concrete impacts on bargaining, student aid and staffing [3] [5]. The administration and supporters, by contrast, frame some steps as efficiency, national‑security classification or workforce‑flexibility measures — for instance, exempting VA clinical roles from some buyout schemes and characterizing certain agencies as having special missions [1] [2]. Sources show this is a contested policy arena with legal challenges and exemptions shifting the practical outcomes [2] [5].
7. Bottom line: action, not a single formal “declassification,” but material consequences
Available reporting does not show a single proclamation that stripped nursing of “professional” status across all legal or occupational systems; rather, it documents a set of administrative rules, executive orders, buyout programs and education‑loan definitions that cumulatively affect nurses’ bargaining power, educational financing and workforce supply — with the Department of Education loan‑classification change (Nov 2025) being the clearest instance of a formal policy that removes a “professional degree” label for nursing programs [4] [3].