November 3, 2025 Advocacy Alert
Act Now: Urge Your Lawmakers to End the Government Shutdown
November 3, 2025
Snapshot
(A 30-second read for busy people)
It has been more than a month since Congress let discretionary appropriations for FY 2026 lapse at the start of the fiscal year and yet there is no firm movement toward resolution. The dawning of November 1 was expected to put pressure on both parties with increased Affordable Care Act premium costs made public and, due to the Trump Administration’s unwillingness to tap an existing contingency fund, the interruption of SNAP benefits.
USAging urges Congress to resolve their important policy differences and find a bipartisan solution to end the shutdown. With one exception, the House and Senate appropriations bills for FY 2026 are strong, protecting Older Americans Act (OAA) and other critical aging programs—and we’d like Congress to finalize their bills, not resort to another year-long continuing resolution (CR).
We are also deeply concerned about a “shutdown hangover”—when Congress eventually ends the shutdown, it will still take at least a month to reach communities because, since the White House budget office, federal agencies and states must process that funding. This means that even though Congress and the media will consider the shutdown over, programs and services will still be at risk!
Take Action Now
Contact your lawmakers today and urge them to get a bipartisan deal to reopen the government. You can use our customizable template below to craft your message. Be sure to emphasize how the shutdown is affecting or soon will affect your delivery of OAA programs and services to older adults and caregivers.
You can find the contact information on your Members’ websites: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.
Please also consider these guidelines when customizing your template letter to lawmakers:
Customizable Template Email/Letter
Dear [Representative or Senator NAME]:
On behalf of [YOUR AGENCY if applicable] in [AGENCY LOCATION/STATE], I am writing to urge you to support a bipartisan agreement to end the government shutdown. [As one of the 613 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) in the country] OR [As one of the more than 280 Title VI Native American Aging Programs] designated by the Older Americans Act (OAA), we rely on discretionary federal funding to address the needs and concerns of all older adults at the local level.
Continued federal funding for OAA programs and services is essential to the health and independence of millions of older adults and caregivers, including the [ADD LOCAL NUMBER] of the older adults and caregivers that [YOUR AGENCY NAME] serves in your community. These OAA programs and services are funded through HHS, then through our State Unit on Aging and then developed, coordinated and delivered locally by [AGENCY NAME] in partnership with our network of community providers.
The lack of federal funding has created numerous issues in our community. From older adults worried about losing access to meals, rides and in-home services to our community-based providers struggling to keep their doors open and their staff paid, this long shutdown has disrupted the smooth running of an Aging Network that supports more than 11 million older adults every day, all around this country.
[Even if your state is providing funding to temporarily fill the gap, please detail the ways the shutdown creates instability and financial pressure on your agency and your providers. Let them know how long your agency could continue delivering services without federal funding, assuming no state funding is available.]
Congress should note that even after a deal is reached and FY 2026 funding begins to flow, it will not reach our agency for at least a month, if not longer, given the usual amount of time it takes for the federal government and then our state government to process our funding. We are concerned that our greatest pain points and impacts on those we serve may actually happen after the shutdown is resolved, when policymakers are no longer paying close attention.
Again, I urge you to support a bipartisan agreement to end the government shutdown so our agency, and hundreds of others across the country, can continue to provide programs and services that help older adults live with optimal health, well-being, independence and dignity in their homes and communities, as well as support their family caregivers.
Please feel free to reach out any time to [INSERT CONTACT INFORMATION] on these or any aging issues of importance to you and your constituents.
Sincerely,
[NAME, affiliation, address, etc.]
(A 30-second read for busy people)
- It is unclear when the federal government shutdown will end.
- While many AAAs have been able to continue to provide services thus far, others are close to service interruption.
- Even when the shutdown ends, it will take roughly four to six weeks before federal funding reaches AAAs.
- Take Action Now: Contact your lawmakers and urge them to get a bipartisan deal to reopen the government.
It has been more than a month since Congress let discretionary appropriations for FY 2026 lapse at the start of the fiscal year and yet there is no firm movement toward resolution. The dawning of November 1 was expected to put pressure on both parties with increased Affordable Care Act premium costs made public and, due to the Trump Administration’s unwillingness to tap an existing contingency fund, the interruption of SNAP benefits.
USAging urges Congress to resolve their important policy differences and find a bipartisan solution to end the shutdown. With one exception, the House and Senate appropriations bills for FY 2026 are strong, protecting Older Americans Act (OAA) and other critical aging programs—and we’d like Congress to finalize their bills, not resort to another year-long continuing resolution (CR).
We are also deeply concerned about a “shutdown hangover”—when Congress eventually ends the shutdown, it will still take at least a month to reach communities because, since the White House budget office, federal agencies and states must process that funding. This means that even though Congress and the media will consider the shutdown over, programs and services will still be at risk!
Take Action Now
Contact your lawmakers today and urge them to get a bipartisan deal to reopen the government. You can use our customizable template below to craft your message. Be sure to emphasize how the shutdown is affecting or soon will affect your delivery of OAA programs and services to older adults and caregivers.
You can find the contact information on your Members’ websites: www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.
Please also consider these guidelines when customizing your template letter to lawmakers:
- We encourage you to be clear about the difficulties of operating without federal funding. Even if your state is providing funding to temporarily fill the gap, don’t hesitate to detail the ways the shutdown creates instability and financial pressure on your agency and your providers. Let them know how long your agency could continue delivering services without federal funding, assuming no state funding is available.
- Please give varied examples of your services beyond the oft-mentioned nutrition programs, including threats to your provision of OAA in-home care, case management, transportation, adult day, caregiver support and more. As we learned earlier this year, when proposals to split up OAA were under consideration, it’s important for lawmakers to know about all the equally vital non-nutrition programs in the Act too.
Customizable Template Email/Letter
Dear [Representative or Senator NAME]:
On behalf of [YOUR AGENCY if applicable] in [AGENCY LOCATION/STATE], I am writing to urge you to support a bipartisan agreement to end the government shutdown. [As one of the 613 Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) in the country] OR [As one of the more than 280 Title VI Native American Aging Programs] designated by the Older Americans Act (OAA), we rely on discretionary federal funding to address the needs and concerns of all older adults at the local level.
Continued federal funding for OAA programs and services is essential to the health and independence of millions of older adults and caregivers, including the [ADD LOCAL NUMBER] of the older adults and caregivers that [YOUR AGENCY NAME] serves in your community. These OAA programs and services are funded through HHS, then through our State Unit on Aging and then developed, coordinated and delivered locally by [AGENCY NAME] in partnership with our network of community providers.
The lack of federal funding has created numerous issues in our community. From older adults worried about losing access to meals, rides and in-home services to our community-based providers struggling to keep their doors open and their staff paid, this long shutdown has disrupted the smooth running of an Aging Network that supports more than 11 million older adults every day, all around this country.
[Even if your state is providing funding to temporarily fill the gap, please detail the ways the shutdown creates instability and financial pressure on your agency and your providers. Let them know how long your agency could continue delivering services without federal funding, assuming no state funding is available.]
Congress should note that even after a deal is reached and FY 2026 funding begins to flow, it will not reach our agency for at least a month, if not longer, given the usual amount of time it takes for the federal government and then our state government to process our funding. We are concerned that our greatest pain points and impacts on those we serve may actually happen after the shutdown is resolved, when policymakers are no longer paying close attention.
Again, I urge you to support a bipartisan agreement to end the government shutdown so our agency, and hundreds of others across the country, can continue to provide programs and services that help older adults live with optimal health, well-being, independence and dignity in their homes and communities, as well as support their family caregivers.
Please feel free to reach out any time to [INSERT CONTACT INFORMATION] on these or any aging issues of importance to you and your constituents.
Sincerely,
[NAME, affiliation, address, etc.]
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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.