Congressional leaders are squaring off over the next pandemic relief bill in a debate over whom Congress should step up to protect.

As the COVID toll climbs, sick workers and families of the dead face another daunting burden: fighting for benefits from workers' compensation systems.

The effort will focus on staffing, surgical outcomes and patient experience in facilities that are performing increasingly complex procedures and seeing more aging patients.

The proposal would allow immigration officials to count the use of non-cash benefits as a "heavily weighed negative factor" in deciding whether to grant permanent residency.