Doggett, Schakowsky Introduce Brand New “Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act”

Washington, D.C.-Today, Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Ranking Member of the House Ways & Means Health Subcommittee, and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Aging and Families, filed brand new legislation to establish comprehensive mandatory minimum nurse staffing standards in nursing homes.

For decades, researchers have clearly established a link between higher staffing levels and improvements in the safety and quality of care delivered to nursing home residents. Yet, Trump outrageously repealed minimum staffing rules at the behest of nursing home executives who donated to his campaign. Meanwhile, his draconian immigration policies and ICE abuses are harming the care workforce, and his "Big Beautiful Bill" enacted the largest health care cut in U.S. history-cuts expected to trigger nursing home closures.

The Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act will establish statutory, mandatory, minimum nurse staffing standards with strong enforceable penalties. The bill text can be found hereand a bill summary can be found here.

"Once again, the corrupt Trump regime has sold off the best interests of Americans to the highest bidder-repealing modest rules after nursing home executives donated to the Trump campaign," said Congressman Doggett. "This legislation provides the accountability these executives, often backed by private equity, have dodged for too long. Vulnerable nursing home residents with complex needs, and the compassionate nursing staff caring for them, deserve comprehensive, enforceable staffing standards to ensure their safety, health, and dignity."

"Every person in the United States deserves to age with dignity and have access to high-quality long-term care. Yet for too long, our nation has failed to establish a sustainable, comprehensive long-term care policy," said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. "This critical legislation would require nursing homes to provide a minimum of 4.1 hours of direct care per resident each day and ensure a registered nurse is on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Study after study shows that stronger staffing standards lead to better patient outcomes and higher-quality care. It is past time that we act on the evidence, hold facilities accountable, and ensure every resident receives the person-centered care they deserve."

"Care workers have been sounding the alarm for decades about the dangers of understaffed nursing homes-both for the health and safety of these critical workers and the seniors whose lives are in their hands," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. "The Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act sets minimum standards on staffing to ensure that safety and care never takes a back seat to corporate profits. We commend Rep. Doggett for his leadership on decent staffing standards that will protect America's workers and save lives."

"Chronic short staffing has plagued our nation's nursing homes for decades, with 1.3 million Americans living in understaffed facilities on any given day. Nursing home workers are stretched too thin and receive poverty wages to care for our parents and grandparents.," said SEIU Vice President Leslie Frane. "As the nation's largest healthcare union, SEIU members demand that Congress stand with us and the people we care for by passing the Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act. All of us deserve to age with dignity and receive high-quality care, but until we fix the dangerous gaps in our long-term care system, we are failing families across the country."

"Care providers and staff at nursing homes are doing everything they can to ensure our loved ones are living with dignity, but across the country, these essential workers are stretched thin, often working long hours, nights and weekends for low pay," said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. "Instead of supporting them, the Trump administration is actively rolling back safe staffing standards for nursing homes, undermining efforts to improve life-sustaining care. The Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act, led by Reps. Schakowsky and Doggett, would help ensure safe staffing at nursing homes by establishing clear, enforceable requirements - including 24/7 registered nurse coverage and minimum hours of care per resident. We urge Congress to pass it."

"National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care strongly supports the Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act and is extremely grateful to Representatives Doggett and Schakowsky for introducing this legislation. It is irrefutable that nursing homes with higher staffing levels have better health outcomes and quality of life for residents," said National Consumer Voice Public Policy Director Sam Brooks. "Understaffing has plagued nursing homes for decades and is the primary driver of poor health outcomes in nursing homes. The Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act relies on decades of research to establish a minimum staffing standard that will help ensure residents receive high-quality care and live in safe homes."

"Many nursing home problems, including falls, bed sores, malnutrition, and infections, are the direct result of nursing homes cutting corners and not having enough staff on duty," said Eric Carlson, Directing Attorney at Justice in Aging. "The Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act will do what it says - save lives - by requiring nursing homes to maintain safe staffing levels for nurses and nurse aides. Nursing homes receive tens of billions of federal dollars annually, and it's about time that residents receive the care that they deserve."

"Having adequate staffing in nursing homes improves patients' health and saves lives. Having sufficient staff to ensure resident wellbeing shouldn't be controversial, but the reality is that the health and safety of residents is imperiled every day in far too many facilities. Whether it is because a company wants to cut corners or private equity is trying to extract maximum profit, the risks of insufficient staff are just too high to be left to the whim of nursing home owners," said Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen. "The Safe Staffing Saves Live Act is commonsense and an important step toward reforming our broken health care system."

Additional Background:

Following the first COVID-19 outbreak in the United States at a nursing facility in Washington, Rep. Doggett convened a hearingin the Ways & Means Health Subcommittee concerning the safety and quality of care in nursing homes. He subsequently led Ways & Means Democratsin oversight efforts concerning the accuracy of nursing home data. He later led effortspressing for reinstatement of nurse aide training requirements.

In 2023, Reps. Doggett and Schakowsky led over 100 colleaguesin urging the Biden Administration to use its authority under the Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 to establish staffing standards. Heeding their call, CMS eventually finalized modest regulations, which Trump subsequently repealed. The Safe Staffing Saves Lives Act establishes mandatory, statutory, minimum nurse staffing standards and additional enforceable penalties that go beyond the previous rulemaking. With an increasingly aging population with complex medical needs, it is essential that nursing homes have sufficient nurse staffing.

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