By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Each day, older adults in our region rely on home and community-based services and programs like Meals on Wheels. For five decades, the Older Americans Act (OAA) has supported many of those programs and services.
The Older Americans Act was passed in 1965 with the goal of supporting older Americans, helping them live at home and in their community with dignity and independence for as long as possible. OAA was last reauthorized in 2020 and will expire on September 30, 2024.
Now, lawmakers are working to move the Older Americans Act Reauthorization Act through Congress. The act reauthorizes funding for a wide array of health and social services programs through a nationwide network of State Units on Aging (SUAs), and Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs).
It helps fund senior community centers, home-delivered meals, health and wellness programs, in-home care, transportation, elder abuse prevention, caregiver support and adult day care.
This week, the reauthorization act was approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
“For generations, for decades, the Older Americans Act has been reauthorized in a bipartisan way. We took a good step today by getting the reauthorization out of the HELP committee,” said Senator Bob Casey (D- PA) on Wednesday. “Now it can go to the floor.”
Sen. Casey serves as Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. He was a lead negotiator of the reauthorized bill and says he fought to include provisions to strengthen advocacy for long-term care facility residents, provide new support for grandparents raising grandchildren, and make it easier for low-income seniors to access nutritious meals.
“I still have changes I want to make to it. I didn’t want to slow down the process right now by offering amendments, but we still have work to do to make sure that the full measure of support can be provided to seniors, especially when it comes to nutrition services,” said Casey.
While Casey would have liked to see more out of the reauthorization, he says it is still an important, bipartisan bill that will help senior citizens.
“While this OAA reauthorization could have gone farther to support older Americans, it is an important, bipartisan bill that sustains vital programs, and strengthens support for long-term care residents, grandparents raising grandchildren, and low-income seniors. Our Nation’s older adults have fought in our wars, raised our families, and built our communities—they deserve our support as they age,” said Casey.
The reauthorization act is set for consideration on the Senate floor. The Senate will reconvene in early September after a state work period throughout the month of August.