{"id":1399409,"date":"2022-03-24T20:29:43","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T00:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1399409"},"modified":"2022-03-24T20:29:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T00:29:47","slug":"republican-leaders-push-bill-to-import-nurses-not-train-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-leaders-push-bill-to-import-nurses-not-train-americans\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican Leaders Push Bill to Import Nurses, Not Train Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frepublican-leaders-push-bill-to-import-nurses-not-train-americans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1399409&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Republican and Democrat legislators want to help hospital chains import at least 25,000 extra foreign nurses, even though tens of thousands of Americans are being denied places in underfunded nursing schools.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I hear from my hospitals in Texas, it\u2019s the shortage of nurses because of the burnout factor associated with COVID-19 and the like,\u201d Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said at a March 15 hearing. \u201cNow hospitals are having to pay incredible multiples of what they ordinarily would pay to nurses to contract with companies that basically will provide the [travel] nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The foreign nurses should get U.S. nursing jobs because not enough Americans are interested in nursing careers, said a statement from Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK). \u201cFederal resources are scarce and inadequate to finance an expansion of our medical training system,\u201d he said in a February 25 statement to Breitbart News.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe number of Americans interested in pursuing health care professions has unfortunately not kept pace with the growing demand \u2026 [so] allowing skilled, foreign medical professionals to practice in the U.S. is a suitable alternative,\u201d Cole\u2019s statement said. \u201cWhile I wish more Americans were choosing to pursue education and professions in the health care field, the reality is that our country has a serious labor shortage and simply cannot fulfill the demand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats are also calling for more nurses, even though they are also talking up the need to train more Americans.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe have an urgent nursing shortage in the state of Wisconsin, in hospital settings, in clinical settings, and nursing home settings,\u201d Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.help.senate.gov\/hearings\/recruiting-revitalizing-and-diversifying-examining-the-health-care-workforce-shortage\">said<\/a> at a February 10 hearing in the Senate. \u201cAt the same time, there are eligible students who are turned away from potential training because of the shortage of nursing faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust in Colorado, we\u2019re facing an estimated shortage of 10,000 nurses over the next five years,\u201d Sen. John\u00a0 Hickenlooper (D-CO) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.help.senate.gov\/hearings\/recruiting-revitalizing-and-diversifying-examining-the-health-care-workforce-shortage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>. \u201cIf we are serious \u2026<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>We should make it easier for those without college degrees, for working parents, and for those without previous experience, to break into early-stage healthcare jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Democrats are hoping they can use the nurse bill and a bill that would help H-1B contract workers win the huge prize of citizenship for their children to win a critical bloc of about 12 GOP Senators for passage of a pro-migration bill.<\/p>\n<p>The Democrats need the 12 or more Republicans to reach the 60-votes threshold needed to get any immigration bill through the Senate to President Biden\u2019s desk. So far, GOP opposition has blocked several efforts by Democrats to pass a massive immigration-expansion bill in 2021 and this year.<\/p>\n<p>In his March 15 hearing, Cornyn touted his work with Democrats to draft the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/senate-bill\/1024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Senate\u2019s version<\/a> of Cole\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/senate-bill\/1024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Cornyn and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), the Democrats\u2019 top immigration advocate, agreed to negotiate an immigration bill. \u201cYou may have seen history in the making,\u201d Durbin said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;You may have seen history in the making.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Thank you, Senator <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnCornyn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JohnCornyn<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorDurbin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SenatorDurbin<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenAlexPadilla?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SenAlexPadilla<\/a> for your commitment to moving bipartisan immigration reform this year. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/oKhiugIhyv\">pic.twitter.com\/oKhiugIhyv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Improve The Dream (@ImproveTheDream) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ImproveTheDream\/status\/1504612273465176068?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 18, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe question is: is there anything we can do on the subject of immigration that can win 60 votes in the Senate?\u201d Durbin asked <em>Politico<\/em> on March 20. \u201cWe\u2019re going to test that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For now, 13 GOP Senators \u2014 and at least 12 Democrat Senators \u2014 are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govtrack.us\/congress\/bills\/117\/s1024\/cosponsors\">sponsoring<\/a> the new bill that would import at least 25,000 foreign nurses for stable careers that would otherwise go to young Americans.\u00a0The Healthcare Workforce Resilience Act would <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govtrack.us\/congress\/bills\/117\/s1024\/text\">create<\/a> green cards for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.govtrack.us\/congress\/bills\/117\/s1024\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">at least 25,000<\/a>\u00a0foreign nurses.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cworkforce resilience\u201d bill is <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/carolinesimon66\/status\/1494368860769853446?s=20&#038;t=ClzIzkZ-rSnQ7LEeuvvRLw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sponsored<\/a> by Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The bill is co-sponsored by GOP Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Rob Portman (R-OH), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Bo0zman (R-AR), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Thune (R-SD), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Susan Collins (R-ME). and Rand Paul (R-KY). The senators\u2019 states <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/1036120\/public-high-school-enrollment-state-us\/\">include<\/a> roughly 4 million high-school students.<\/p>\n<p>Tillis is also pushing a Democratic-backed bill to fast-track the award of green cards to Indian visa workers. Naturalized Indians overwhelmingly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2020\/09\/22\/donald-trump-gains-among-asian-immigrants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">vote<\/a> for pro-immigration Democrat candidates, in part because the Democrats support the transfer of jobs from American graduates to Indian visa workers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just specifically discussed the recapture there seems to be a general consensus on it,\u201d Tillis <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PabloReports\/status\/1506331394489962508\">told<\/a> Latinorebels.com\u00a0March 22. \u201cI mean, there are going to be some that would be opposed to it \u2026 It\u2019s only down to two [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">judciary committee<\/a>] members that would even object to it,\u201d said Tillis, who was reelected in 2020 with support from President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Cole\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/117th-congress\/house-bill\/2255\/cosponsors?r=18&#038;s=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">25,000-nurse outsourcing bill<\/a> in the House is also backed by GOP legislators who have championed prior immigration bills favored by businesses. They include Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Rep. Billy Long (R-MO), and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA).<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic legislators have done little to accelerate the training of American nurses for the routine nursing jobs now going to the foreign nurses favored by healthcare companies, despite the vast evidence of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2021\/11\/15\/covid-19-is-taking-terrible-toll-nurses-they-deserve-much-more-help\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the sector-wide burnout and resignations<\/a> caused by the coronavirus crash, and the huge share of older nurses who are heading towards <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aacnnursing.org\/Portals\/42\/News\/Factsheets\/Nursing-Shortage-Factsheet.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">retirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Hechinger Report <a href=\"https:\/\/hechingerreport.org\/when-nurses-are-needed-most-nursing-programs-arent-keeping-up-with-demand\/\">outlined<\/a> the federal failure\u00a0in December:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>LONG BEACH, Calif. \u2014 At a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed a growing shortage of nurses, it should have been good news that there were more than 1,200 applicants to enter the associate degree program in nursing at Long Beach City College. But the community college took only 32 of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026<\/p>\n<p>U.S. universities and colleges last year rejected\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aacnnursing.org\/News-Information\/Fact-Sheets\/Nursing-Shortage\">80,407 qualified applicants<\/a>\u00a0for bachelor\u2019s and graduate degrees in nursing, blaming a lack of faculty, classroom space and clinical opportunities in hospitals. That doesn\u2019t include the number turned away by community colleges, which educate a large number of beginning nurses.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At Cape Fear Community College in North Carolina, \u201cwe always have well over 400 applicants\u201d for just 80 spots,\u00a0Brenda Holland, the college\u2019s nursing chief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whqr.org\/local\/2021-02-04\/i-took-a-paycut-nursing-faculty-shortage-worsening-low-pay-a-major-factor\">told<\/a> WHQR.com.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHospitals have failed to hire and support enough nurses to weather crises,\u201d Sarah DiGregorio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2022\/03\/14\/travel-nurse-pay-caps\/\">said<\/a>\u00a0in an op-ed for the <em>Washington Post<\/em>. Nursing schools are \u201crejecting tens of thousands of qualified candidates because\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.whqr.org\/local\/2021-02-04\/i-took-a-paycut-nursing-faculty-shortage-worsening-low-pay-a-major-factor\">there aren\u2019t enough<\/a>\u00a0instructors to teach them [in part because] nurse educators are paid a fraction of what they could make working clinically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the industry \u2014 and our lawmakers \u2014 truly want to address the staffing crises, they will need to start at the root of the problem: our collective failure to value caring,\u201d DiGregorio wrote.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Nurses at St. Vincent hospital have now been on strike for nearly 9 months to demand an end to dangerous cost-cutting and short-staffing they say puts patients in danger.<\/p>\n<p>Tenet\u2014which owns the hospital\u2014made $448M in profits last quarter. But it won\u2019t budge on the nurses\u2019 demands. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Sr4oYCez3u\">pic.twitter.com\/Sr4oYCez3u<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MorePerfectUS\/status\/1465712835904815106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 30, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Industry groups want to import many foreign nurses.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. investors prefer foreign nurses because most will work long hours without complaint in a rational exchange for the company-provided deferred bonus of green cards, citizenship, and chain migration. \u201cI\u2019m doing it for my daughter, for the sake of her future, so that she can also move here and then get a better life,\u201d Alex-Jane Hermio-Nees, a Filipino nurse with a job in Arizona, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/now\/video\/u-s-hospitals-recruit-nurses-from-foreign-countries-to-fill-staff-shortages-132388933719\">told<\/a> NBC News Now. \u201cMy daughter is still back home. I miss her a lot and also my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 1996, healthcare lobbyists persuaded Congress to <a href=\"https:\/\/ilw.com\/articles\/2002,0424-Wolfsdorf.shtm#:~:text=Section%20343%20of%20the%20Illegal,labor%20as%20a%20healthcare%20worker.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">create<\/a> a hidden pipeline for hospitals to import their own <a href=\"https:\/\/uscode.house.gov\/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title8-section1182&#038;num=0&#038;edition=prelim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nurses and therapists<\/a>, similar to the special H-1B white-collar pipeline created for the Fortune 500. In 2018 the nation had roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aacnnursing.org\/News-Information\/Fact-Sheets\/Nursing-Fact-Sheet#:~:text=Nursing%20Fact%20Sheet%201%20Nursing%20is%20the%20nation%27s,segments%20of%20the%20U.S.%20...%20More%20items...%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">3.3 million registered nurses<\/a>\u00a0(RNs), each of whom has earned a nursing degree.<\/p>\n<p>That number includes 512,000 immigrant nurses, or 15 percent of the labor force, according to\u00a02018 data <a href=\"https:\/\/www.migrationpolicy.org\/article\/immigrant-health-care-workers-united-states-2018\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> by the pro-migration Migration Policy Institute.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the immigrant share of RNs jumped from 11 percent in 2000 to 15 percent in 2015, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/chssweb\/documents\/26584\/original\/Immigrant_Nurses_in_the_U.S_iDod_Fact_Sheet_Oct_2017.pdf?1508255873\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> by the Institute for Immigration Research at George Mason University in Virginia. The immigrant share of all nurses, psychiatric, and home health aides has jumped from 17 percent in 2000 up to 24 percent in 2015, and their numbers almost doubled, from 591,000 in 2000 to 1.1 million in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>The Migration Policy Institute report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.migrationpolicy.org\/article\/immigrant-health-care-workers-united-states-2018\">says<\/a> 1.5 million immigrants hold skilled jobs as \u201chealth-care practitioners and technical occupations,\u201d and that another 1138 million immigrants hold \u201chealth-care support\u201d jobs.<\/p>\n<p>Immigrants hold larger shares of registered nursing jobs in several states \u2014 \u201cNevada (36 percent), California (35 percent), Maryland (30 percent), and New York (29 percent)\u201d \u2014 the Migration Policy Institute said. Only about 37 percent of the nurses came from Central and South America.<\/p>\n<p>The foreign nurses are imported via a variety of little-recognized visa programs. For example, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahcancal.org\/News-and-Communications\/Fact-Sheets\/Letters\/Coalition-Letter-State-Immigration-Nov2021.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">November 2021 letter<\/a> from the medical industry reported that 134,558 nurses waited for green-card processing at the U.S. embassy in Manila in President Barack Obama\u2019s second term. But that number fell to 94,816 in President Donald Trump\u2019s four years.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">NEW: Thousands of nurses &#038; workers just went on strike at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, where low wages have led to an exodus of workers and dangerous understaffing.<\/p>\n<p>They say equipment isn\u2019t being cleaned, nurses are overworked, and it\u2019s putting patients\u2019 lives at risk. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fSTjV0eJJG\">pic.twitter.com\/fSTjV0eJJG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MorePerfectUS\/status\/1443937219513835523?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Hospital managers burn through their nursing workforce, regardless of the damage done to nurses and patients, DiGregorio wrote:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Employing more nurses per patient is safer for patients, and it makes nurses\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/jamanetwork.com\/journals\/jamanetworkopen\/fullarticle\/2775923\">less likely to burn-out and quit<\/a>. But hiring and supporting a large nursing staff is expensive, and many hospitals have been unwilling to do it. Travel nurses are expensive, too, but they are a short-term expense; they don\u2019t get benefits or job security.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The flood of foreign labor cuts jobs and wages for American nurses \u2014 and minimizes the political pressure to train more young Americans for nursing careers.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/data\/inflation_calculator.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inflation-adjusted<\/a> wages for registered nurses rose by only 4 percent from <a href=\"https:\/\/work.chron.com\/salaries-changed-nurses-23316.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2010<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/oes\/current\/oes291141.htm#st\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2020,<\/a>\u00a0according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the same period, the nation\u2019s biggest hospital chain saw its stock price rise from $33 to almost $240 per share, <a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/quote\/HCA\">delivering<\/a> a $60 billion gain for the shareholders, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wallstreetzen.com\/stocks\/us\/nyse\/hca\/ownership#:~:text=HCA%20Healthcare%20%28NYSE%3A%20HCA%29%20is%20owned%20by%2063.39%25,owning%20194.41M%20shares%20representing%2062.51%25%20of%20the%20company.\">include<\/a> former GOP Senator Bill Frist.<\/p>\n<p>In most of the nation, nurses earn between $60,000 and $70,000, but in many states they earn less, according to job-search site\u00a0Ziprecruiter.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BREAKING?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BREAKING<\/a>: Catholic Health Mercy Hospital of Buffalo will stop paying healthcare coverage for the 2,000 hospital workers on strike. <\/p>\n<p>We spoke w\/ nurses who described horrid conditions, malfunctioning equipment, and severe understaffing. FULL REPORT: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/45jjNzg1WL\">https:\/\/t.co\/45jjNzg1WL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IUGv2yXpEq\">pic.twitter.com\/IUGv2yXpEq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Status Coup News (@StatusCoup) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StatusCoup\/status\/1454956834088001541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 31, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In Florida, for example, the average salary was $54,530, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ziprecruiter.com\/Salaries\/What-Is-the-Average-RN-Salary-by-State\">said<\/a> Ziprecruiter. The Bureau of Labor Statistics <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/oes\/current\/oes291141.htm#st\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports<\/a> that nurses on the coasts are paid higher wages, while nurses in a zone including\u00a0 states from Alabama to West Virginia and South Dakota to Oklahoma, earn much less. Nurses in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Hawaii earn around $75,000, but they also have to pay higher housing costs.<\/p>\n<p>Wall Street converts nurses\u2019 wage losses into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bing.com\/search?q=yqaahoo+stock+quote+HCA&#038;PC=U316&#038;FORM=CHROMN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gains for investors<\/a>. In general, healthcare stock values rise by $12 billion when wages can be cut by $1 billion.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the coronavirus crash, nurses have gone on strike to protest their wages and staffing levels. On November 15, for example, Kaiser Permanente dropped plans for wage cuts after 32,000 nurses were about to strike in November, the Associated Press <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2021\/11\/13\/kaiser-permanente-colorado-strike\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Agreement on the four-year contract includes annual wage increases, while maintaining health benefits for employees, and new staffing language to continue to protect employees and patients, the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis agreement will mean patients will continue to receive the best care, and Alliance members will have the best jobs,\u201d said Hal Ruddick, executive director of the alliance. \u201cThis contract protects our patients, provides safe staffing, and guarantees fair wages and benefits for every Alliance member.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">32,000 NURSES at Kaiser Permanente going on strike<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OxYdr7P01G\">pic.twitter.com\/OxYdr7P01G<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michelle (@mrntweet3) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mrntweet3\/status\/1457196182204141579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 7, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Unsurprisingly,\u00a0the American Hospital Association (AHA) used the February 10 hearing to ask Sen. Baldwin and Sen. Hickenlooper for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aha.org\/testimony\/2022-02-10-aha-senate-statement-recruiting-revitalizing-diversifying-examining-health\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">more foreign nurses:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Our workforce challenges are a national emergency that demand immediate attention from all levels of government and workable solutions.\u00a0These include recruiting, revitalizing and diversifying the health care workforce by\u00a0 \u2026. Boosting [federal] support for [U.S.] nursing schools and faculty \u2026 Expediting visas for all highly trained foreign health care workers \u2026 Pursuing visa relief for foreign-trained nurses.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In 2021, the AHA also was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aha.org\/lettercomment\/2021-05-05-aha-letters-support-healthcare-workforce-resilience-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">quick to applaud<\/a> the House and Senates bill introduced by Cole and other Republicans and Democrats. The bill \u201cwould expedite the visa authorization process for highly-trained [foreign] nurses, who could support hospitals facing staffing shortages,\u201d said the association.<\/p>\n<p>But the goal of boosting training U.S. students for the jobs is not mentioned in the AHA\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aha.org\/advocacy-agenda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lobbying priorities<\/a> for 2022. Instead, in 58th place, the AHA merely calls for legislators to \u201cAddress nursing shortages and burnout by reauthorizing\u00a0nursing workforce development programs\u00a0to support recruitment, retention and advanced education for nurses and other allied health professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Cole\u2019s May 2020 bill was also backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the <a href=\"https:\/\/cole.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/cole-joins-bipartisan-introduction-of-healthcare-workforce-resilience-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Koch po<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/cole.house.gov\/media-center\/press-releases\/cole-joins-bipartisan-introduction-of-healthcare-workforce-resilience-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">litical network<\/a>, both of which routinely champion the inflow of more workers, consumers, and renters.<\/p>\n<p>Cole is an influential GOP leader and a cheerleader for immigration. \u201cWe are a nation built largely and impressively by immigrants,\u201d his website <a href=\"https:\/\/cole.house.gov\/issues\/immigration?page=2\">says<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Nurses?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Nurses<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/strike?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#strike<\/a> yell \u201cGo Home scabs!\u201d To a van of replacement workers arriving at Mercy Hospital. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CWA?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#CWA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vREoNPw8in\">pic.twitter.com\/vREoNPw8in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sharon Cantillon (@SharonCantillon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SharonCantillon\/status\/1443899311931248643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 1, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican and Democrat legislators want to help hospital chains import at least 25,000 extra foreign nurses, even though tens of thousands of Americans are being denied places in underfunded nursing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1399409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1399409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1399409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1399409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}