AHCA/NCAL Urges Administration, Congress to Forge Ahead on Immigration Bill Despite Uphill Fight
Senate Leaders Urged to Allow Consideration of Amendments in Order to Get Final Vote; Yarwood Reiterates Need to Include Language Boosting Long Term Care Workforce
Contact:
Susan Feeney, AHCA/NCAL, (202) 898-9354
For Immediate Release
June 12, 2007
Washington, DC –The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) today praised the Bush Administration and Congress for continuing to make constructive, bipartisan progress on a comprehensive immigration reform bill, but said ultimately achieving passage will necessarily require Senate leadership to allow for the consideration of amendments in order to get a final floor vote.
“The President and Congress deserve enormous credit for keeping immigration overhaul alive despite the slow, incremental, uphill nature of the legislative situation at hand -- but we must sustain this effort at all costs,” stated Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA/NCAL. “To keep momentum alive, we respectfully urge Senate leadership to allow for the consideration of amendments so a final package can reach the Senate floor for a vote.”
Yarwood also said it is “essential any final bill include language that will help ensure the chronic staffing shortage in America’s long term care facilities does not become a national health care catastrophe in the decades ahead.”
The AHCA/NCAL President and CEO said guest worker language like that offered by U.S. Representatives Luis V. Gutierrez (D-IL) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in their legislation – the “Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy (STRIVE) Act” – should be adopted because America’s long term care system is straining due to a shortage key caregivers, like certified nurse assistants (CNAs) necessary to care for an aging population.
“Our laws should allow willing workers to enter our country to help fill this void after all security concerns have been satisfied, and we are especially interested in seeing through to final passage a bill codifying the specific need to fill these key frontline care giving positions,” Yarwood concluded.
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The American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) represents nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation’s frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit www.ahca.org.