Washington, D.C. - House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) today offered the following statement after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed a rule to mandate increased nursing home staff ratios:

"America’s seniors need access to quality care. Rather than helping to serve that goal, today’s proposed rule fails to acknowledge the realities that nursing homes are facing and will harm more seniors than it helps. The rule will put nursing homes-particularly in rural areas-in an impossible dilemma as they grapple with how to manage current occupancy levels with the insufficient workforce available to meet the requirements. This rule fails to adequately balance the needs of seniors and nursing home staff in the face of the current staffing shortage gripping our nation. A one-size-fits-all mandate for nursing homes will not bring the results that the Biden administration hopes to achieve."