After a historic wave of strikes, marches and informational pickets by nurses, and dozens of new successful nursing organizing campaigns across the country, registered nurses have brought their fight to Congress to fix the crisis of unsafe nurse staffing levels in hospitals across the country. The Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act, sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), establishes minimum RN-to-patient ratios for every hospital unit, effective at all times. Additionally, the legislation creates whistleblower protections to ensure that nurses are free to speak out for enforcement of safe staffing standards.