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Floor Speech

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Mrs. FISCHER. Mr. President, across America, 1.3 million people live in nursing homes. Many of us have parents, grandparents, or other loved ones who rely on these homes for care and community in their golden years. We understand just how vital nursing homes are--whether it is in urban, suburban, or rural areas--to help seniors in our country thrive.

But, unfortunately, a Federal rule that is still in place from the Biden era is putting many of America's nursing homes in jeopardy, especially those in our rural communities. Last year, under President Biden, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a rule that placed strict, unrealistic regulations on nursing homes. The rule requires a registered nurse to be present 24/7 in these homes and requires 3\1/2\ daily hours of dedicated nursing care for each resident. If this rule is not stopped, the regulations will be imposed on every nursing home in America over the next few years.

It does sound nice to be able to have a nurse on hand in nursing homes every moment of the day or night, but that is not the reality. The reality is that these homes are already facing historic staffing shortages. Across the country, nursing homes lost more than 200,000 workers from February 2020 to December 2022. These shortages have already caused many nursing homes to close down.

Since 2015, 44 nursing homes and 35 assisted living facilities have shut their doors in my State--in Nebraska--alone. These closures deprived Nebraskans of over 3,000 beds. They hurt seniors who wanted to stay in their home community to be close to their family, to be close to their friends.

This CMS rule will worsen this crisis. According to the Agency itself, 75 percent of America's nursing homes will have to increase staffing to comply with this regulation. Under the Biden administration's rule, nursing homes now have to scramble so that they can find staff in the midst of these really overwhelming shortages. If they fail, they have to shut their doors; they have to deprive seniors of care and housing.

That is why, today, I reintroduced legislation to stop this Biden-era rule in its tracks. My Protecting Rural Seniors' Access to Care Act will prevent the rule's misguided requirements from going into full effect. It will also establish an advisory panel on the nursing home workforce, representing various stakeholders, including members from rural and underserved areas. This will ensure that the government hears voices outside the big cities--those big cities on the coasts--when it comes to our nursing homes.

Nursing homes are few and far between in rural areas of our country. If one facility closes, the next closest one could be many miles or even many hours away. Just one closure could be detrimental to seniors in some of our communities.

But if our nursing homes stay open, seniors won't have to face that upheaval of finding a new place to live, of moving, of leaving their home communities, leaving their loved ones, leaving their friends, and having that upheaval in their final years. They won't have to leave their family. They won't have to leave loved ones. They won't have to experience the loneliness, the uncertainty, the depression that can come along with moving to an unfamiliar place.

My bill advocates for these seniors, for their care, and for their families. It fights for our rural communities and for our nursing homes in my State of Nebraska and across this country. I will keep pushing for this legislation until the President signs it into law so that we can protect our seniors from a rule that would only harm them, harm their families, and harm their caretakers.

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