Warner & Kaine Applaud Senate Passage of Bill to Reauthorize Older Americans Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senators Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine (both D-VA) applauded unanimous Senate passage of legislation to reauthorize the Older Americans Act (OAA), which authorizes a wide range of programs and services to help older Americans age in their homes and communities. The legislation includes an increase in authorized funding and key provisions Kaine secured as a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, including his Strengthening Advocacy for Long-Term Care Residents Act to improve the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, which designates staff and trained volunteers as representatives to advocate for residents of nursing homes and other long-term care (LTC) facilities.

"I've long been proud to advocate for elder Virginians, including through efforts to ensure that they can receive the care they deserve, and have their end-of-life wishes known and honored," said Warner. "I'm proud to see the Senate pass this legislation, which reauthorizes crucial social service programs that seniors and caregivers rely on."

"I'm glad the Senate unanimously passed legislation to reauthorize the Older Americans Act, which has helped seniors be able to age in their homes and communities with dignity. I'm especially proud that this legislation included my bill to strengthen advocacy for long-term care residents and a provision I fought for to better support the direct care workforce," said Kaine. "I urge my colleagues in the House to pass this bill as soon as possible."

The reauthorization included several provisions championed by Kaine, including:

• Strengthening Advocacy for Long-Term Care Residents Act: Includes Kaine's bill with Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) to strengthen the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program by instructing the Administration for Community Living (ACL) to establish categories of duties for volunteers and appropriate training requirements for volunteers based on those categories, reaffirm Congress' intent that the Ombudsman program should be led by a full-time National Director, and require a study and report with a recommendation for the number of ombudsmen per LTC facility bed.
• Direct Care Workforce Training: Includes a provision of Kaine's Supporting Our Direct Care Workforce and Family Caregivers Act instructing ACL to create a technical assistance center to support the recruitment, training, and retention of direct care workers. In 2022, ACL established this center. This provision codifies the existence of this center in statute and expands its work to include supporting family caregivers.
• Support for Area Agencies on Aging: Includes language to ensure proper implementation of a statute that allows Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) to contract with outside entities to bring in revenue that AAAs reinvest in their work to serve older Americans.

A version of the Older Americans Act reauthorization passed out of the Senate HELP Committee earlier this year.

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