The National Restaurant Association has endorsed the Dignity Act, aligning the restaurant industry's largest trade group with House legislation now before Congress.

The endorsement positions the Association — which represents an industry of roughly 500,000 of its member foodservice locations and advocates on labor, immigration and supply-chain policy — behind a bill whose fate directly affects restaurant staffing. Details of the announcement appeared on House.gov.

For restaurant operators, immigration policy has become a workforce issue first. The industry has long relied heavily on foreign-born labor across kitchens, dish lines and back-of-house roles, and operators have reported persistent hiring shortfalls in those positions since the pandemic. Any pathway-to-legal-status framework that stabilizes a portion of that workforce touches labor availability, training costs and turnover — the line items operators watch alongside food costs.

The Dignity Act is a House measure; the Association's endorsement signals that its government-affairs team intends to lobby for the bill's provisions as negotiations proceed. Trade-group endorsements of this kind typically accompany statements from the bill's sponsors, and the House publication of the announcement suggests sponsor offices are using industry backing to build the coalition the bill will need to move through committee.

What the endorsement does not settle is timing. Immigration legislation in the House faces a crowded calendar and a divided chamber, and no committee mark-up date or floor schedule accompanies the announcement. Operators tracking the bill should watch for the Association's follow-up advocacy — regulatory comment, member action alerts and testimony — which will indicate which provisions, from workforce authorization to verification requirements, the group prioritizes as the legislation advances.