August 7, 2025 Advocacy Alert
Urge Your Representatives to Increase and Protect Aging Funding!
August 7, 2025
Snapshot
(A 30-second read for busy people)
On July 31, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2026 Labor/HHS spending bill in a bipartisan vote, which includes mostly level funding for OAA programs, with only Title III-E seeing a $2 million increase over FY 2025 levels to support the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. For a full overview of the bill’s funding levels, please see our newly updated appropriations chart.
The bill also provides funding for numerous other programs the FY 2026 President’s budget sought to eliminate entirely, such as the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), LIHEAP and the OAA’s SCSEP. USAging and the Aging Network extensively advocated to retain funding for these programs, and we greatly appreciate the Senate’s action to keep these critical programs funded. For more information on the bill, USAging members can review our August 4 Legislative Update.
House and Senate members are home in their districts and states this month for August recess and will return to Washington, DC, on September 2 to continue negotiations on FY 2026 spending bills. The House has yet to release their Labor/HHS proposal, so advocates need to make noise in August with your Representatives! We need you to urge them to boost funding for OAA and protect other critical programs in the House’s Labor/HHS spending bill. Use our template letters, linked below, to get started!
Take Action Now
Contact your House lawmakers today on FY 2026 Labor/HHS appropriations! With Congress in recess, we need to do all we can to push the House to build on the level funding in the Senate bill and increase funding for OAA programs, while protecting other key aging funding sources such as CSBG and LIHEAP from cuts.
STEP 1: Reach out to your Representatives via email. Use our newly updated templates to customize your asks to reflect your agency/program: AAA template, Title VI template. Give your Members of Congress a sense of how their communities are affected—take the time to localize what this funding means for the older adults and caregivers in your community, tribe or state. You can find the contact information on your Members’ websites: house.gov.
STEP 2: Reach out to all of your Members of Congress to request a site visit or in-person meeting. August recess is an opportunity for Representatives and Senators to meet with their constituents and get a better understanding of community needs and challenges. This month is the perfect time to engage your lawmakers and invite them to see how critical your work is to the older adults in your community!
STEP 3: Make your support for OAA funding public. Find out if any of your agency’s stakeholders know the Members of Congress serving your community or if they will be seeing them at any virtual or in-person events. If so, ask that they put in a good word for OAA funding and its impact in your community.
STEP 4: Engage your provider network. Urge your vendors/providers, advisory board members and other important stakeholders to send their own letters to Congress. Please do all you can to amplify the message and engage others who understand the value of OAA in their communities! Forward this Alert to your networks or edit it to be best received by your agency’s advocates.
(A 30-second read for busy people)
- In late July, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2026 Labor/HHS spending bill, which includes mostly level funding for Older Americans Act (OAA) programs. (Details for USAging members.)
- The bill includes funding for numerous programs the President’s FY 2026 budget sought to eliminate entirely, including the Community Services Block Grant, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and OAA Title V Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP).
- Take Action Now: Congress is home for recess but will continue negotiations on FY 2026 OAA funding in September, so now is the time to advocate for increased OAA funding and the protection of aging programs. Visit our FY 2026 appropriations campaign page to access customizable template letters to get started!
On July 31, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2026 Labor/HHS spending bill in a bipartisan vote, which includes mostly level funding for OAA programs, with only Title III-E seeing a $2 million increase over FY 2025 levels to support the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. For a full overview of the bill’s funding levels, please see our newly updated appropriations chart.
The bill also provides funding for numerous other programs the FY 2026 President’s budget sought to eliminate entirely, such as the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), LIHEAP and the OAA’s SCSEP. USAging and the Aging Network extensively advocated to retain funding for these programs, and we greatly appreciate the Senate’s action to keep these critical programs funded. For more information on the bill, USAging members can review our August 4 Legislative Update.
House and Senate members are home in their districts and states this month for August recess and will return to Washington, DC, on September 2 to continue negotiations on FY 2026 spending bills. The House has yet to release their Labor/HHS proposal, so advocates need to make noise in August with your Representatives! We need you to urge them to boost funding for OAA and protect other critical programs in the House’s Labor/HHS spending bill. Use our template letters, linked below, to get started!
Take Action Now
Contact your House lawmakers today on FY 2026 Labor/HHS appropriations! With Congress in recess, we need to do all we can to push the House to build on the level funding in the Senate bill and increase funding for OAA programs, while protecting other key aging funding sources such as CSBG and LIHEAP from cuts.
STEP 1: Reach out to your Representatives via email. Use our newly updated templates to customize your asks to reflect your agency/program: AAA template, Title VI template. Give your Members of Congress a sense of how their communities are affected—take the time to localize what this funding means for the older adults and caregivers in your community, tribe or state. You can find the contact information on your Members’ websites: house.gov.
STEP 2: Reach out to all of your Members of Congress to request a site visit or in-person meeting. August recess is an opportunity for Representatives and Senators to meet with their constituents and get a better understanding of community needs and challenges. This month is the perfect time to engage your lawmakers and invite them to see how critical your work is to the older adults in your community!
STEP 3: Make your support for OAA funding public. Find out if any of your agency’s stakeholders know the Members of Congress serving your community or if they will be seeing them at any virtual or in-person events. If so, ask that they put in a good word for OAA funding and its impact in your community.
STEP 4: Engage your provider network. Urge your vendors/providers, advisory board members and other important stakeholders to send their own letters to Congress. Please do all you can to amplify the message and engage others who understand the value of OAA in their communities! Forward this Alert to your networks or edit it to be best received by your agency’s advocates.
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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 Ezeuko and Seth Ickes at policy@usaging.org.
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 Ezeuko and Seth Ickes at policy@usaging.org.