April 14, 2022 Advocacy Alert
REMINDER: Push for OAA Funding Increases!
CALL Your Representatives TODAY and Urge Them to Sign on to the BIpartisan OAA Letter!
CALL Your Representatives TODAY and Urge Them to Sign on to the BIpartisan OAA Letter!
With just one week left to garner support and gather signatures, time is running out for your Representatives to join their colleagues in support of doubling funding for Older Americans Act Title III programs and services for FY 2023! Your advocacy is needed today! Reach out to the Representatives that serve your PSA and encourage them to sign on and invest in these essential programs and services.
At the beginning of this week we shared an Advocacy Alert encouraging you to ask your Representatives to sign Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici’s (D-OR) bipartisan letter requesting House Appropriations Labor/HHS/Education Subcommittee leaders to double FY 2023 funding for OAA Title III, which is directly in line with USAging’s own request to double funding for OAA Title III programs. Congresswoman Bonamici is joined by Representatives Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Ted Deutch (D-FL) and John Katko (R-NY) in rallying their colleagues to patron this effort.
The letter specifically asks for significantly increased funding for OAA Title III B Supportive Services, Title III C Nutrition, Title III D Evidence-Based Health Promotion and Prevention Programs and Title III E National Family Caregiver Support Program. We have been down this road before. While Congress recognizes the critical work you do, that recognition is simply not enough. They need to know that these programs need additional funding. You must keep up the drumbeat and advocate for the financial solvency that will ensure your agency’s capacity to provide older adults and their caregivers critical access to services past the pandemic while accommodating both the growing demand for these services and demographic growth of an aging America.
Contact your Representative NOW and drive signatures to the OAA letter—so appropriators recognize the BIPARTISAN support that already exists for boosting funding for these essential programs!
Members’ signatures are due by close of business on Friday, April 22, so please do your outreach TODAY, then spread the word in your community to drive more support!!
Action Requested:
Call your Representatives and ask them to sign on to the letter circulated by Reps. Bonamici, Stefanik, Deutch and Katko on OAA funding. Even if you know enough about your Member’s voting history to understand your request is not an easy one, please do this outreach anyway. It’s vital that all Representatives understand how critical OAA funding is to older adults and caregivers!
- STEP 1: Call the DC office and ask for the staff member who handles Older Americans Act or appropriations issues. You can reach them through the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121 or find the number on your Member’s website.
- STEP 2: Tell them about the bipartisan Bonamici-Stefanik OAA Dear Colleague letter and offer to email them a link to the letter if they have not already seen it.
- STEP 3: Let them know exactly why you want your Member to sign on to the OAA letter. Give local statistics that demonstrate the need for an increase in OAA funding and make sure to highlight the growing demand for services in your community. If they ask for a staff contact for Rep. Bonamici, tell them to contact Andrew Dunn at Andrew.Dunn@mail.house.gov.
The deadline for signatures is Friday, April 22.
Ask other advocates to do the same! Urge colleagues, advisory board members, volunteers and clients to make calls to their Representatives, as well. We have a very short window of opportunity, so we need you and your colleagues to act fast on this particular request!
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If you have questions or concerns about this Advocacy Alert or USAging’s policy positions, please contact Amy Gotwals at agotwals@usaging.org and Monica Billger at mbillger@usaging.org.