Senior Independence Act of 2006

SENIOR INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 2006

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Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am proud to rise in support of H.R. 5293, the Senior Independence Act. I would like to thank Chairman McKeon, Subcommittee Chairman Tiberi, Ranking Member George Miller, and all of the members of the Education and the Workforce Committee who have rolled up their sleeves to produce a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Older Americans Act.

I would also like to take a moment to commend the outstanding staff on both sides of the aisle for their excellent work. The chairman set up an open process, a process that aimed to engage all of the stakeholders. That kind of process is only successful when you have staff members who are dedicated to getting the job done and able to synthesize the recommendations and build the consensus necessary to move forward. I would especially like to recognize the work of Kate Houston and Lucy House and Angela Klemack on the majority staff, as well as Cheryl Johnson, Ricardo Martinez, and Moira Lenehan on our side of the aisle. They made a sometimes difficult and complicated process go smoothly, and I thank them and appreciate their good and effective service.

Aging is a fact of life. However, through the establishment of Social Security, Medicare, and the enactment of the Older Americans Act, living in poverty to most Americans no longer is a fact of aging. From 1959 to 2002, the percentage of older people living in poverty fell from 35 percent to only 10 percent.

The Older Americans Act of 1965 is the landmark legislation that articulated our core values as a Nation. The act begins with a declaration of objectives which includes the following: ``Retirement in health, honor, dignity, after years of contribution to the economy.'' This is a statement of our national obligation to older Americans. The Older Americans Act represents our commitment to meeting that obligation. This law provides for supportive services such as transportation, housekeeping, and personal care. It provides nutrition services both in the home and in community settings. It provides preventative health services and supports family caregivers. Finally, it protects the rights of vulnerable older Americans by combating consumer fraud and protecting seniors from abuse.

The legislation before us today, H.R. 5293, the Senior Independence Act, truly represents our good faith effort to respond to the community's will, as expressed at the White House Conference on Aging where the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act was declared the top priority.

The bill before us reauthorizes all of the core programs in the Older Americans Act. It promotes greater access to services for individuals who are more comfortable in a language other than English. It maintains the structure of the Senior Community Service Employment Program that reaffirms the dual purpose of the programs, employment and community service. It strengthens the very successful Family Caregiver Program. It promotes greater choices and health nutrition education so that our seniors can remain at home and in their communities. It promotes financial literacy for family caregivers and seniors so that older Americans' physical and mental health are not jeopardized by poor financial health. It strengthens our system of protecting older Americans from abuse. Finally, it recognizes that seniors are a growing resource for the aging network and for our communities in general. We must continue to look for ways to leverage our older citizens' talents and desires to continue to make a difference.

It is incumbent upon us all to step up and invest in these programs. It is one sure way to help control the cost of our growing entitlement programs. It is the right thing to do. We know that every dollar spent providing a meal or supporting seniors so that they can remain at home and in their communities not only improves their quality of life but saves entitlement spending on long-term care. That is the genius of the Older Americans Act. Yet we know that the Older Americans Act's purchasing power per individual has dropped by 50 percent since 1980.

As we have worked in a bipartisan manner to craft a reauthorization bill, I was pleased that we were able to advocate together for an increase in the nutrition and support services programs in the Older Americans Act in the Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill. I hope that as we move forward with the appropriations process, we will restore the funding that was cut for the Senior Community Service Employment Program and that we will continue to look for ways to increase our investment in all of the critical programs under this Older Americans Act.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I look forward to continuing to work with the chairman and all of the members of the committee to move this legislation forward.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would like to make some closing remarks and acknowledge that during this opportunity that I have had in a year and a half to work with Chairman Tiberi, I have learned to appreciate his commitment to helping people, as he said in his opening remarks, and this bill, H.R. 5293, which will amend the Older Americans Act of 1965, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2007 through 2011, and for other purposes, is one that makes me feel very proud to be a part of this work that has been accomplished. I am a proud sponsor of this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of it.

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