Argentum Update on Industry-Wide Campaign

This information is provided by national senior living association partner, Argentum.

“Left Behind” Campaign Update

Negotiations continue on the Build Back Better act (“human infrastructure”) and passage of the bipartisan (traditional) infrastructure legislation. In a press conference yesterday, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) indicated the he doesn’t support the $1.75 trillion framework announced last week by President Biden, which included $150 billion for home care, and urged the House to pass the bipartisan bill. The Congressional Progressive Caucus, which has twice derailed votes on the bipartisan bill, has indicated they may consider the bipartisan bill apart from the human infrastructure package, and as many as 15 House Republicans may ultimately support passage of the bipartisan bill. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) suggested that the House Rules Committee may attempt to advance both pieces of legislation as early as tomorrow for potential floor votes later this week. Both the House and Senate are scheduled to be in recess next week.

Unfortunately, as of the latest draft released last week, assisted living still is not included in the text of the human infrastructure bill. There is still time to correct this, as regardless of when the House passes their version of the human infrastructure bill, the Senate is expected to take several weeks to modify the package before passing it and sending it back to the House for consideration again. This means there are a few critical weeks remaining where we can have an impact and get senior living included in this package.

And that is why it is essential that everyone in the senior living industry actively participate in our “Don’t Leave Assisted Living Behind, Again” campaign over these next few weeks. We urgently need all communities across the country to display the banners and yard signs (provided at no cost to communities by Argentum) to help raise awareness and get the attention of lawmakers. Ground teams are on site to help deliver signs directly to communities; please reach out to Paul Williams (pwilliams@argentum.org) to arrange for signs to be delivered. To help encourage your communities to take part, we’ve prepared a sample letter and talking points to share with community executive directors to help them better communicate the campaign with residents, family members, and staff. We encourage you to share your pictures, such as those below, on social media and use the hashtag #DontLeaveUsBehindAgain.

Signs are being delivered directly to communities. Please reach out to Paul Williams (pwilliams@argentum.org) to arrange for signage to be delivered to your communities.

 Additionally, we are ramping up our grassroots letter writing campaign this week to get as many senior living residents, family members, and caregivers to write directly to the White House and Congress on the critical need to include senior living in this package. Please direct your communities to share the StandingWithSeniors.com website, participate in the grassroots campaign, and to share it as broadly as possible. The key to letter writing campaigns is volume of messages, and that is why we need your help to spread the word and get as many people involved as possible.