FY 2018-FY 2019 Budget Letter Template

Date______

The Honorable ______

Please check names and address on ECIAAA’s website

  1. SERVICES & Information Tab

2. “Your Legislators” – Click here for directory of Legislators for PSA 05

3.U.S. House of Representatives serving Area 5

Dear Representative ______:

This letter is in response to the recent passage of a six-week bipartisan budget deal to lift the discretionary budget caps, which have unnecessarily restricted funding to critical aging programs and services.

With this relief now available, we urge you to ensure that the final FY 2018 spending bills include adequate resources for the Older Americans Act (OAA) and several other programs that help older adults live with dignity and independence in their homes and communities for as long as possible.

Specifically, we urge you to adopt a funding bill compromise that reflects the House-passed increase for OAA Title III B Supportive Services and adopts the Senate-proposed levels for essential Medicare counseling services. Funding for these services is critical to the health and independence of millions of older adults and caregivers, including 20,000 of the older adults and caregivers that ECIAAA serves locally.

We hope you support the following requests as a final FY 2018 funding bill moves forward, and will reach out to your House colleagues who are working toward a final funding compromise:

  • Maintain the House-passed $14.2 million increase for OAA Title III B Supportive Services and pass a final funding level for Title III B of $364.2 million.
  • Adopt the Senate-proposed level for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) ($47.1 million) which was subject to cuts or elimination in the House-passed funding bill.
  • Work to incorporate additional increases for OAA programs to, at a minimum, meet the funding levels included in the unanimously approved 2016 Older Americans Act reauthorization bill.

Page Two - February 21, 2018

In the four years of the Trump Administration, nearly 15 million people will turn age 65. By 2030, 73 million—or one in five—people in America will be 65 or older.With more Americans living longer, we should be investing in key Older Americans Act and other aging programs that keep seniors healthy and independent in their homes and communities, not cutting them!

As Congress finalizes the funding bills for FY 2018, it is essential that lawmakers recognize and make wise federal investments in programs that keep older adults in their homes and communities and that support caregivers. In the interest of the older adults who we serve and who you represent in the ___ Congressional District of Illinois, we hope you will support—and urge your colleagues to support—these key requests for critical OAA and other aging programs.

Please feel free to reach out anytime on these or any aging issues of importance to you and your constituents.

Sincerely,

Name