August 17, 2026 Advocacy Alert

Tell Congress Two Things This Month! Protect Funding, Reauthorize OAA

August 17, 2026

Snapshot
(A 30-second read for busy people)

• We have two top priorities for the last few months of the 119th Congress: ensure funding stability and pass Older Americans Act (OAA) reauthorization.
• On August 8, the Senate voted to advance a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government at FY 2026 levels and block the controversial proposed rule on federal grantmaking through December 11.
• Last month, the Senate also passed the OAA Reauthorization Act (S. 2120).
• The House and Senate need to negotiate the differences in their CRs before October 1. While it’s a long shot, USAging is pushing Congress to include the OAA reauthorization bill in this CR.
• ACT NOW: Contact your Members of Congress and urge them to support the Senate CR and to include the OAA reauthorization bill in any final stopgap funding bill. Read on to get started and use our email templates.

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On August 8, the Senate voted to advance a bipartisan continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the government through December 11. The CR provides funding at FY 2026 levels for Labor/HHS programs and would prevent the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) from implementing its controversial proposed rule on federal grantmaking for the duration of the CR. Government shutdowns prove again and again to be a serious pain point for the Aging Network, disrupting the flow of funding and essential services to older adults and another shutdown must be avoided. For more information on the CR, please read our recent Legislative Update.
 
The Senate’s CR comes after the House passed their own CR last month. Since the Senate’s CR differs from the House version, eyes will be back on the House in September following August recess to see if they will accept the Senate version or, more likely, negotiate differences between the two bills. This likely negotiation time is an opportunity to push both chambers to use the CR as a vehicle for a final OAA reauthorization bill.
 
USAging strongly supports the Senate’s OAA reauthorization bill (S. 2120) which incorporates many of USAging’s OAA reauthorization recommendations, including our language on contracting flexibility for AAAs, support for a national resource center for social isolation, codification of grab-and-go meals and a 4.62-percent increase in authorization levels each year for five years. The bill’s next step is the House of Representatives, where the House Education and Workforce Committee has jurisdiction. However, to gain the House’s support this year, as occurred in late 2024, any final OAA bill will need to have lower authorization levels.
 
Congress is currently on August recess and will only be in session for part of September before taking leave again for all of October so that Members can campaign for the mid-term elections. After the elections, a lame-duck Congress will have roughly five weeks to finish all their remaining work.
 
That’s why your strongest advocacy is critical in August and early September: we have a window here to ensure funding stability and potentially finish up OAA reauthorization. Please use the email templates below to contact your lawmakers before the end of August!
 
Take Action Now

STEP 1: Send an email to your Senators and Representative(s) requesting their support for the Senate’s CR and inclusion of OAA reauthorization in a final bill. Use our email template below to get started and be sure to customize it to your agency/community. Send your email to their DC and district offices, which you can find for the House by clicking here and the Senate by clicking here. For the House, please be sure to send an email to any Representatives whose constituents you serve!
 

Email Template to Your Representatives/Senators Note: Areas with yellow highlighting require customization. Dear [Senator/Representative NAME]:   On behalf of [AGENCY NAME] in [AGENCY LOCATION AND STATE], we are writing to urge you to advance the Senate-passed continuing resolution swiftly in September and to finalize the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act (OAA) at the same time.   To prevent funding gaps and uncertainties, we urge Congress to adopt the Senate continuing resolution (CR) in September. Extending funding for critical programs like the OAA and other essential federal programs that help us support older adults should be a top priority. Previous government shutdowns have resulted in delayed delivery of OAA funds to Area Agencies on Aging and Title VI Native American Aging Programs, resulting in service disruptions for older adults, preventing them from receiving key supportive services, meals or caregiver supports. Following last year’s 43-day government shutdown, the Aging Network was negatively affected, with some agencies having to limit services or access to programs. To avoid service disruptions or delays, it is imperative that Congress pass a stopgap funding bill to keep the government funded until decisions are made on a full appropriations bill.   [Optional section if you care to weigh in on the OMB rule] We are also supportive of the Senate CR’s provision to postpone implementation of the proposed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) grantmaking rule. Our agency supports transparency and accountability in federal grantmaking but we have concerns about many of the provisions in the proposed rule that seem to allow congressional intent or law to be overridden by the executive branch, as well as add administrative burdens and expectations that may not be feasible for all types of grantees doing critical work on behalf of the government.   Furthermore, the CR represents an opportunity to advance the bipartisan Senate OAA reauthorization bill, S. 2120, which includes critical updates to the law that help agencies like ours better serve older adults and their family caregivers. This bill has now passed the Senate twice (previously in July 2024) and a slightly modified bicameral version nearly passed the House in December 2024 before falling out of the end-of-year package for non-substantive reasons.     The Act has been unauthorized since 2024, and it is critical that the 119th Congress get this bipartisan effort across the finish line to ensure the continued health and well-being of the 14 million older adults and family caregivers who receive OAA services in every congressional district in the country. This CR, or any other moving legislation, would be a suitable vehicle to finalize the bipartisan OAA reauthorization and we encourage you to use this opportunity to do so.   Thank you for your consideration of these requests and we look forward to your response.   Sincerely,   [NAME, affiliation, address, etc.]

 
STEP 2: Engage your provider network. Urge your vendors/providers, advisory board members and other important stakeholders to send their own emails to their Senators and Representatives. Please do all you can to amplify the message and engage others who understand the value of OAA in their community! 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.