Update on Argentum’s Federal Immigration Reform Efforts
Argentum continues to seek solutions to the workforce shortage crisis and is advancing immigration reform as an important part of meaningful workforce improvements. On December 8, 2022, the House is scheduled to vote on the EAGLE Act, a bill that would transform the way per-country VISA caps work by phasing out the 7% per-country limit on employment-based immigrant visas and raising the 7% per-country limit on family-sponsored visas to 15%.
These changes would alleviate backlogs while the bill also provides an allotment of visas for professional nurses and physical therapists, all of which could help ease the strain on the labor market. Argentum supports the EAGLE Act and is pursuing additional administrative and legislative measures that provide more directed solutions to senior living workforce challenges.
Renewing Calls for State Relief and Workforce Investments
The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), signed by President Biden last March, allocated $195.3 billion for state governments to use at their discretion, including to direct funds for COVID-19 mitigation efforts and to “support industries hardest hit by the crisis.”
Argentum has worked directly with our State Partners to request relief through this program. In this effort, we developed a toolkit (recently updated) that includes a template letter to the governor to request funds, the COVID-19 impact on the industry by state, and examples of recent distributions of funds.
Recently, we sent a letter to the National Governors Association renewing our calls to disburse relief funding to senior living communities and to also invest in workforce development programs to meet the critical need for caregivers for the rapidly aging population.
