WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Senate recently passed the Supporting Older Americans Act, bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and authored by Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bob Casey (D-PA) that would reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA) for another five years. The OAA is the nation’s preeminent law focused on the wellbeing of seniors, with programs serving more than 700,000 caregivers and provided seniors across the country with 358 million meals in the last year alone.

When Congress reauthorized the Older Americans Act in 2006, there was a change to the funding formula called the “hold harmless” provision, which set a minimum funding allocations based on 2006 funding levels. This provision was detrimental to states like North Carolina with quickly growing senior populations because funding for services did not keep pace with the rising senior population. In this reauthorization, Senator Tillis worked with his colleagues to eliminate the “hold harmless” provision and ensure states receive funding allocation based on population instead of outdated minimum funding allocations.  

“North Carolina has a fast-growing senior population and I am proud we were able to secure important changes in this reauthorization to ensure North Carolina gets its fair share of funding,” said Senator Tillis. “Passage of the bipartisan Older Americans Act will ensure North Carolina’s low-income senior population have the services to receive proper nutrition and care if needed.”

The OAA supports and improves the lives of seniors—particularly those who are low-income—through programs and services that promote nutrition (e.g. Meals on Wheels), improve transportation options, support caregivers, offer employment and community service opportunities, and prevent abuse and neglect. Specifically, the bipartisan Supporting Older American Act reauthorizes the Older Americans Act for five years with funding levels that better meet growing needs, improves the availability of transportation resources to seniors, ensures that those living with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease are included in key OAA services, and enhances elder abuse prevention activities through increased outreach and education activities.

Specifically, the bipartisan bill would:

• Reauthorize the Older Americans Act for five years with funding levels that better meet the growing needs, including a 7 percent increase in the initial year, and 6 percent increase annually for the remainder of the authorization;
• Extend the RAISE Family Caregivers Act for one additional year;
• Extend the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Council for one year;
• Improve the availability of transportation resources to seniors;
• Enhance flexibility for states to better address the needs of grandparents raising grandchildren;
• Ensure that those living with younger onset Alzheimer’s disease are included in key OAA services;
• Increase the focus on addressing detrimental impacts of social isolation;
• Advance support for age-friendly communities.
• Improve elder abuse prevention activities through increased outreach and education activities.
• Increase transparency of home-modification opportunities for eligible older adults.
• Upgrade data collection methods to understand unmet need in nutrition programs.
• Promote multigenerational programming.
• Bolster innovation in the OAA through thoughtful evaluation of demonstrations and existing programs.

The reauthorization is supported by more than 128 organizations, including the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the National Area Agencies on Aging (n4a), Advancing States, the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs (NANASP), National Alliance for Caregiving, Meals on Wheels America, the Jewish Federations of North America, National Council on Aging (NCOA), and the Alzheimer’s Association.

The bill has been sent to the House for consideration. 

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