AUSTIN, Texas (KXXV) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration in an effort to block a new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rule that he argues could force rural nursing homes to close, displacing elderly residents.
The final rule mandates changes to staffing requirements, which Paxton says would require Texas nursing homes to hire more than 10,000 additional staff with specific qualifications—more than the current labor market can supply, particularly in rural areas.
The lawsuit claims the rule violates the Major Questions Doctrine, asserting that unelected federal agencies cannot impose major policy changes without congressional approval. It also argues that the CMS regulation is arbitrary and capricious, violating the Administrative Procedure Act.
“This power grab by Biden’s health bureaucrats could put much-needed care facilities out of business in some of the most underserved areas of our state,” Paxton said in a statement. “We are taking the federal government to court over this rule that could worsen rural care shortages by shutting down facilities due to new hiring quotas that are impossible to fill.”
