Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President. Along with my colleague and friend, Senator Claire McCaskill, I am introducing the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act of 2018, a bill that seeks to help combat the abuse and financial exploitation of our nation's seniors. Our bill would create a semipostal, or fundraising, stamp that would allow Postal Service customers to make a voluntary contribution to help raise awareness and combat elder abuse with a stamp purchase. The proceeds from this stamp would go to the Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS) Administration on Community Living (ACL) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). This additional funding for the ACL would be used to further support the development and advancement of emerging practices to prevent and respond to the abuse of older adults. Funding for the DOJ would go toward improving prosecution, data collection, litigation support, and prevention of elder abuse initiatives. Notably, this bill would help to provide needed additional revenue to tackle elder abuse without costing the federal government a single penny.

Abuse can happen to anyone--no matter the person's age, gender, race, religion, or ethnic or cultural background. Each year, hundreds of thousands of adults over the age of 60 are abused, neglected, or financially exploited. Abuse can happen in many places, including a person's home, a family member's house, an assisted living facility, or a nursing home. Just as abuse can occur in various settings, there are many types of elder abuse, including physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment, and financial exploitation. Although there are different types of abuse, it is common for a victim to experience more than one type of mistreatment.

According to the National Council on Aging, approximately one in ten Americans aged 60 years old or older have experienced some form of elder abuse, and according to the GAO, financial fraud targeting older Americans is a growing epidemic that costs seniors an estimated $2.9 billion annually. We know, however, that the true number is probably much higher since many of these cases are never reported because the victim is too often ashamed to report abuse, particularly when it involves a family member. As a consequence, the true incidence of abuse is not known. In fact, the National Center on Elder Abuse reports that only one in 14 cases are reported to the authorities.

In my home State of Maine--the State with the oldest population by median age--an estimated 33,000 seniors each year are the victims of some kind of abuse or financial fraud. Moreover, in as many as 90 percent of financial cases, the senior is victimized by someone he or she knows well. In a 2017 report of financial exploitation of Maine's older adults, in most cases financial exploitation is perpetrated by a family members and for those perpetrators who were family members, the majority were the victim's child.

In a recent case in Maine, police charged a pastor in York County, Maine, with exploiting an incapacitated elderly woman. They say the man befriended the woman while he was volunteering at the assisted-living community where she lived. According to police, the State determined the woman to be incapacitated and assigned her a guardian and conservator. The pastor allegedly took the woman to her bank, withdrew money to have the locks changed on her former home, which had been on the market, and he took down the ``for sale'' sign.

Police say the pastor told the woman he would help her return to her house, even though it was not equipped for the wheelchair access she required. He suggested his daughter could live with the woman to care for her. Police say his goal was to ingratiate himself and have access to this woman's financial accounts and property. Fortunately, in this case, the conservator, who was legally responsible for protecting the woman's assets, identified and reported the suspected criminal activity to the police.

Combatting elder abuse of seniors is primarily the responsibility of state and local agencies, particularly Adult Protective Services agencies. Prevention and response to cases of abuse require coordinated efforts, including state and local agencies, law enforcement, the social work and medical community, and financial institutions.

The Federal government also plays an important role in providing leadership to combat this problem. The Elder Justice Coordinating Council, which is led by HHS and DOJ, has brought other federal agencies to the table to coordinate efforts to protect older individuals from abuse. In January, the DOJ took another step forward by directing all 94 U.S. Attorneys' offices to each designate an elder justice coordinator, who will develop strategies to protect seniors in their districts. This will promote greater cooperation between the DOJ and its law enforcement partners. While the best way to intervene in the problem of elder abuse is to prevent it from happening in the first place, when abuse does occur, it is crucial that the perpetrators of the crimes not go unpunished.

I worked closely on the Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act of 2018 with Philip C. Marshall, founder of Beyond Brooke, a cause-based campaign named to honor Philip's late grandmother, Brooke Astor, who was a well-known philanthropist, recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a victim of elder abuse and elder financial exploitation. In 2015, Mr. Marshall testified before the Senate Aging Committee about how his father mistreated his grandmother and mismanaged her assets while she suffered from Alzheimer's disease. In addition, I am pleased that the nonpartisan Elder Justice Coalition, which represents more than 3,000 members, along with the National Center for Victims of Crime, the National Sheriff's Association, and the National Association on Area Agencies on Aging support the bill.

Preventing and combating elder abuse require law enforcement and social service agencies at all levels of government to work collaboratively with the private sector. The Stamp Out Elder Abuse Act would assist the Federal government's role to help make that happen. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. President--I ask that letters from these organizations appear in the Record immediately following my remarks.

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