A Bipartisan Yes: The Essential Caregivers Act Clears the Ways and Means Committee
- Emily Trask
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Mary Daniel washed dishes for a paycheck she never needed, just to be allowed back into the room with her husband Steve. That was the price Mary was willing to pay during the pandemic to see her husband, most families did not have that opportunity, and this week (July 13, 2026), Congress took a real step toward making sure it never asks that again.
Every member of the House Ways and Means Committee last week voted, unanimously, to send the Essential Caregivers Act to the House floor.
The bill, led by Rep. John Larson (CT-01) and Senator Richard Blumenthal, with Rep. Claudia Tenney (NY-24) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) as original co-sponsors, would let residents of nursing homes and similar facilities designate two loved ones as "essential caregivers." Those caregivers would keep their visitation rights even when a declared emergency shuts a facility's doors to everyone else, so long as they follow the same health protocols required of staff.
“I have heard heartbreaking stories from constituents who were separated from their loved ones in long-term care during the pandemic, even families forced to miss a parent or grandparent’s final moments,” Larson said. “We can never allow the isolation that took place to happen again.” Blumenthal called the vote “an important step toward ensuring we never repeat the tragic, isolation nursing home residents faced during the pandemic,” and described the bill as establishing “a vital lifeline” between residents and the people who love them.
Gray Panthers NYC has been part of the coalition pushing this bill forward, and we heard exactly why it matters at our February Transformation Tuesday webinar, where GPNYC Vice President Carrie Leljedal, Mary Daniel of Caregivers for Compromise, and Lori Smetanka of the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care laid out both the human stakes and the legislative path.
Mary Daniel’s story is one of the reasons this bill exists. Separated from her husband Steve for 114 days during the early pandemic, she took a job washing dishes at his memory care facility just to be allowed through the door. “He’s dying. I know he’s dying. Today is the most important day for him.” And she asked: “What exactly are we saving him for, or saving him from?” That question became the seed of Caregivers for Compromise, the grassroots network now active in all 50 states and one of the driving forces behind this legislation.
Carrie Leljedal carries her own version of that story. Her son, now 38, lives in a long-term care facility, and she went 128 days without seeing him at the start of the pandemic. She has spent the years since organizing yellow-envelope letter campaigns and creating a variety of ways that helped others apply pressure on Congress. As she put it during the webinar, this fight is not really about the pandemic. It is about what could happen again, in any future emergency, and about protecting her son long after she is no longer here to advocate for him.
The current federal Nursing Home Reform Act of 1987 already guarantees residents immediate access to family. Lori Smetanka explained that this guarantee proved meaningless once regulators found a loophole during COVID, and the Essential Caregivers Act exists to close it, requiring CMS to set clear, fair rules for emergency access that residents, families, and facilities can actually rely on.
There is a throughline here that Gray Panthers NYC has carried since Maggie Kuhn co-founded this organization: aging with dignity requires connection, not confinement. The National Consumer Voice itself grew out of that same lineage, founded by Elma Holder, who worked alongside Maggie and lived with her early in her career. Fifty years later, the fight looks remarkably similar. People who need care should never lose the people who love them.
The bill will now move through the House. While we have made progress, we have by no means crossed the finish line. Committee passage came because advocates, families, and organizers refused to let this issue fade once the emergency itself did. The same pressure is needed now to get it across the house floor and through the Senate before this Congress ends.
Call your representative and tell them to support the Essential Caregivers Act. The main number for both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate is the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 📞 (202) 224-3121. Every voice moves this closer to law.
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Track the Bill: You can follow real-time floor votes, hearings, and bill text on the https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9641
Advocate for the Bill: You can find more information on the National Consumer Voice website.
Rep. Larson spoke in support of the Essential Caregivers Act during the Ways and Means Committee markup, and the video of his remarks is worth watching in full as the bill heads to the House floor with bipartisan momentum behind it. Read the press release here.
You can watch the full conversation with Carrie Leljedal, Mary Daniel, and Lori Smetanka in our February Transformation Tuesday recording, where they walk through both the human stakes and the path this bill has taken through Congress.