December 2, 2025 Advocacy Alert
Urge Congress to Protect and Increase Federal Aging Funding
December 2, 2025
Snapshot
(A 30-second read for busy people)
In mid-November, Congress passed, and President Trump signed into law, a spending package that ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The bill included three final appropriations bills and a continuing resolution extending FY 2025 funding until January 30 for the remaining nine bills, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The bill also extended funding for Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act programs through January 30 and provided full FY 2026 funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. While unlikely, another government shutdown is possible in January should Congress find themselves in a similar position again.
For more information about the government shutdown and the status of funding for the Aging Network, USAging members can review our recent Legislative Update.
As Congress resumes negotiations on appropriations bills, we need all aging advocates to take action to ensure OAA programs are protected and the highest funding levels possible are secured in a final spending bill.
While our collective advocacy secured good levels in House and Senate appropriations bills, we need to make sure the best recommendations legislators made survive in any final bill and that nothing is cut because other advocates are more successful!
Specifically, please urge your lawmakers to retain the appropriations levels set out in the House Labor/HHS bill, which proposes millions of dollars in increases for Title III B Supportive Services. For Title V of the OAA, the Senior Community Service Employment Program, we want Congress to ultimately take the Senate’s recommendation to fund the program, because the House did not provide any funding for FY 2026 for Title V.
Read on for guidance on how to contact your Representatives and Senators and urge them to protect and increase OAA and aging funding in any final spending bill for FY 2026. Use our template letters below to get started!
Take Action Now
Contact your lawmakers today on appropriations, even if you wrote to them in September. We need you to weigh in with Congress quickly and reinforce the need to protect and increase OAA funding and other key programs, as well as push back against any proposed eliminations.
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.
STEP 1: Put your requests in writing! Use our customizable templates (AAA and Title VI) to send a letter to your lawmakers. You can find the contact information on your Members’ websites: house.gov and senate.gov.
STEP 2: 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 3: 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 mid-November, Congress passed a spending bill to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
- The deal included three appropriations bills, and extended funding at FY 2025 levels through January 30 for the remaining nine bills, including the House Appropriations Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services (Labor/HHS).
- Congress will need to pass a full-year funding bill or another short-term funding patch before the new deadline in order to avoid another government shutdown.
- ACT NOW: Tell your lawmakers to protect funding for Older Americans Act (OAA) and other critical aging programs in their final bill! Visit our FY 2026 appropriations campaign page to access UPDATED and customizable template letters to get started!
In mid-November, Congress passed, and President Trump signed into law, a spending package that ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. The bill included three final appropriations bills and a continuing resolution extending FY 2025 funding until January 30 for the remaining nine bills, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The bill also extended funding for Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act programs through January 30 and provided full FY 2026 funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. While unlikely, another government shutdown is possible in January should Congress find themselves in a similar position again.
For more information about the government shutdown and the status of funding for the Aging Network, USAging members can review our recent Legislative Update.
As Congress resumes negotiations on appropriations bills, we need all aging advocates to take action to ensure OAA programs are protected and the highest funding levels possible are secured in a final spending bill.
While our collective advocacy secured good levels in House and Senate appropriations bills, we need to make sure the best recommendations legislators made survive in any final bill and that nothing is cut because other advocates are more successful!
Specifically, please urge your lawmakers to retain the appropriations levels set out in the House Labor/HHS bill, which proposes millions of dollars in increases for Title III B Supportive Services. For Title V of the OAA, the Senior Community Service Employment Program, we want Congress to ultimately take the Senate’s recommendation to fund the program, because the House did not provide any funding for FY 2026 for Title V.
Read on for guidance on how to contact your Representatives and Senators and urge them to protect and increase OAA and aging funding in any final spending bill for FY 2026. Use our template letters below to get started!
Take Action Now
Contact your lawmakers today on appropriations, even if you wrote to them in September. We need you to weigh in with Congress quickly and reinforce the need to protect and increase OAA funding and other key programs, as well as push back against any proposed eliminations.
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.
STEP 1: Put your requests in writing! Use our customizable templates (AAA and Title VI) to send a letter to your lawmakers. You can find the contact information on your Members’ websites: house.gov and senate.gov.
STEP 2: 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 3: 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.