April 21, 2025 Advocacy Alert

Snapshot: The President’s FY 2026 HHS budget draft was leaked last week and it shows the Trump Administration’s intent to tear OAA programs apart and send them to two different agencies (CMS and ACF) in the wake of its HHS reorganization. The budget also calls for zeroing out several key OAA and other aging programs.
 
Action Needed: Contact your Members of Congress today and call for OAA programs to remain together at the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) and for critical aging programs to be saved from elimination!

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Last week, a leaked copy of the President’s FY 2026 budget draft made its rounds to national aging and disability organizations, outlining plans to tear Older Americans Act (OAA) programs apart and eliminate several critical aging programs. The draft proposed to move most OAA programs to the Centers for & Medicaid Services (CMS) and move only OAA Title III C nutrition programs to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). In addition, the budget recommends eliminating funding in FY 2026 for several critical OAA programs, including Title III D and Title VII (Long-Term Care Ombudsman), as well as State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs), ADRCs, elder justice programs such as Adult Protective Services and more.
 
For more details on the President’s HHS FY 2026 budget draft, see our April 17 Legislative Update (please note this is available to USAging members only).

Why We Need Your Advocacy
 
OAA programs (with the sole exception of Title V’s workforce program at the Department of Labor) are tied by statute to the Administration on Aging (AoA), and the Act dictates that OAA is to be federally administered by an Assistant Secretary for Aging, then implemented through State Units on Aging and Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), as well as community providers.
 
Splitting up OAA programs into two different federal agencies undermines the facts that the different titles and subtitles program are all part of ONE delivery system: the Aging Network; and that the Act works so well because of that cohesive approach, allowing AAAs to provide a wide range of person-centered services to meet the needs of older adults as efficiently as possible.
 
Separation of OAA programs would affect the delivery of services to older adults and drive cost inefficiencies through unnecessary and wasteful administrative burden. Successful coordination at all levels demands a unified approach to delivering the essential programs and services needed by older adults to age well at home and in their communities. We also believe that OAA programs are better suited to a human services agency—ACF—rather than CMS, which is a massive health care administration agency.
 
These proposals are a direct attack on the OAA’s statute and mission and the Aging Network’s efficiency and resources and, ultimately, will mean less support and fewer options for older adults trying to age well and their caregivers. It is critical that we speak out now. Advocacy is not optional!
 
Take Action Now!
 
Contact your Representatives and Senators NOW to advocate for keeping OAA programs together at ACF and preventing the elimination of critical aging programs. Use our grassroots email template below to customize your asks to reflect your agency/program. Give your members of Congress a sense of how their communities will be affected—take the time to localize what tearing OAA programs apart and the elimination of key aging programs means for the older adults and caregivers in your community, tribe or state.
 
Note on prioritization: the template email below, while referencing the proposed funding cuts, focuses primarily on the breaking apart of the OAA, as it is our most immediate threat. Our recently launched FY 2026 appropriations campaign will continue to elevate any proposed cuts to OAA, SHIP and other key sources of funding to support older adults and caregivers, so more to come on that effort in the coming weeks and months!  
 
STEP 1: Put your requests in writing! Send an email requesting their support. Use our email template below but customize it to your agency/community (be sure to weave in data and stories on those you serve). Send your email to their DC and district offices. You can find the contact information on your Members’ websites: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.
 
Dear [Representative or Senator NAME]:
 
On behalf of [YOUR AGENCY if applicable], I am writing to you to share grave concerns regarding President Trump’s draft FY 2026 HHS budget because it includes a major threat to the ability of older adults to age well at home and in the community. The budget will dismantle and destroy the integration of the cost-effective aging programs and services under the Older Americans Act (OAA), such as those offered by our agency as well as the other 613 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) that serve millions of older Americans and their caregivers around the country.
 
The President’s draft budget proposes to split OAA programs into two different HHS agencies, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The budget draft also outlined plans to zero out many critical aging programs that support the older adults in [YOUR COMMUNITY], such as OAA’s evidence-based health promotion and disease prevention program (Title III D) and elder rights (Title VII) efforts to prevent elder abuse and neglect, among others.  
 
Splitting up OAA programs into two different federal agencies undermines the facts that the different titles and subtitles programs are all part of ONE delivery system established by Congress in the Act: the Aging Network, with leadership at federal, state and local levels; and that the Act works so well because of that cohesive approach, allowing AAAs to provide a wide range of person-centered services to meet the needs of older adults and caregivers as efficiently as possible. The OAA turns 60 this year and has been a tremendous success by offering healthy aging, in-home, transportation, nutrition, case management, social engagement, caregiver support and many other services.
 
If the proposed breakup of the programs and the elimination of major initiatives in the OAA goes forward, it will severely impact the ability of older adults and caregivers in [YOUR COMMUNITY OR STATE] to get the services and supports they need to remain living at home and in the community versus facing placement in institutional settings, as well as drive cost inefficiencies through unnecessary and wasteful administrative burden on federal, state and local aging agencies.
 
Please do all you possibly can to ensure that federal administration of OAA programs follows the law, and the OAA programs that were formerly at the Administration for Community Living are moved intact to ACF. I also ask for your support to prevent the elimination of critical services to older adults in [YOUR COMMUNITY OR STATE] in the FY 2026 appropriations bills.
 
I look forward to your reply and your assistance on this matter. I am happy to discuss these concerns with you or your staff at any time and will be following up.
 
Sincerely,

[NAME, affiliation, address, etc.]
 
STEP 2: Make your support for OAA funding public.

• Attend any virtual events/town halls your Senators and Representatives are hosting during the current and upcoming congressional recesses (House and Senate: April 14–25, May 26–30), and raise the issue of splitting up OAA programs and elimination of key aging programs during the Q&A!
• Find out whether any of your agency’s stakeholders know the Members of Congress serving your community or if they will be seeing them at any virtual events. If so, ask that they raise this as well and what the impact would be on the community should OAA programs remain separated and other aging programs remain eliminated.

 
STEP 3: Schedule meetings and visits with your lawmakers. Request virtual meetings or invite your lawmaker to an onsite visit when members of Congress will be in their states and districts this month and in May (see dates above). Get on their local calendars NOW and engage them in your May Older Americans Month activities or other events! Individual site visits, even if virtual, are also a great opportunity to educate your elected officials about the critical services you provide to their constituents. All you have to do is ask! (Tip: Put the request in writing. Call or email the DC office to ensure your request gets to the scheduler.)
 
STEP 4: Engage your provider network. Urge your vendors/providers, advisory board members and other important stakeholders to send their own letters/emails to Congress. Please do all you can to amplify the message and engage others who understand the value of keeping OAA programs together and saving critical aging programs! Forward this Alert to your networks or edit it to be best received by your agency’s advocates.
 
Stay tuned for more updates from USAging and as always, we thank you for your advocacy!

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If you have questions or concerns about this Advocacy Alert or USAging’s policy positions, please contact the USAging Policy Team, Amy Gotwals, Olivia Umoren and Seth Ickes at policy@usaging.org.