Chair’s Letter to Congressional leadership urging that Congress to pass a clean debt limit increase. Benefits and services crucial for aging with health and independence such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Older Americans Act services, Elder Justice Act protections, and housing, food, transportation, and utility assistance should not be threatened.
Issue Area: Income Security
Chair’s Letter on Administration Vacancies
Chair’s Letter to the Administration calling for filling the leadership vacancies within the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Administration for Community Living (ACL).
Chair’s Letter on 2022 Lame Duck Session
As Congress convenes for the 2022 lame duck session, the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) reinforces its top priorities in the areas of appropriations and community services, health, income security, and lifting the debt ceiling, with a Chair’s Letter to House and Senate leadership.
Sign-On Letter on Retirement Savings Package Priorities
LCAO letter expressing the coalition’s support for key provisions that will improve retirement savings opportunities in the Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act of 2022, the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the Nest Egg (RISE & SHINE) Act of 2022, and the Securing a Strong Retirement Act (Secure 2.0).
Letter in Support of SSA Funding
The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) is a coalition of 69 national nonprofit organizations concerned with the well-being of America’s older population and committed to representing their interests in the policy-making arena. We strongly urge you to enact omnibus appropriations legislation that includes all 12 subcommittee bills for Fiscal Year 2022 and becomes effective when the continuing resolution (CR) ends. In doing so, Congress should fully fund the Administration’s request of $14.189 billion for Social Security Administration so it can fulfill its critical mission to administer the nation’s social insurance programs for the financial well-being of retirees and their survivors, disabled workers and their families, as well as the aged and blind. This is especially important because of the harm done by Covid-19.
Chair’s Letter on Build Back Better
I write as chair of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations to express LCAO’s strong support for the legislation comprising the Build Back Better Act passed by the House Budget Committee on September 25, 2021.
Read LCAO chair Katie Smith Sloan’s letter on the LCAO’s support for the legislation comprising the Build Back Better Act.
Chair’s Letter Supporting Social Security 2100 Act
The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) is a coalition of 69 national nonprofit organizations concerned with the well-being of America’s older population. Over the years we have worked tirelessly to protect and expand Social Security because it provides the foundation for income security of the people of this country. LCAO is writing to commend you for your work in support of America’s seniors and to endorse your bill, Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust. This legislation would improve Social Security benefits and extend the solvency of the Social Security Trust Funds while not increasing taxes for those earning under $400,000.
Read LCAO chair Katie Smith Sloan’s letter on LCAO’s support for the Social Security 2100 Act.
Letter of Support for Paid Leave Principles
The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) is a coalition of 69 national nonprofit organizations concerned with the well-being of America’s older population and committed to representing their interests in the policy-making arena. An important part of the LCAO’s mission includes advancing the recognition of the immeasurable contribution that America’s family caregivers make to enabling older adults to live meaningful lives in their homes and communities. It is time that, as a country, we acknowledge—and support—the invaluable contribution of America’s family caregivers by enacting a comprehensive paid leave policy, and we urge the 117th Congress and the Biden Administration to promote a family and medical paid leave policy that includes family caregivers.
LCAO Chair’s Letter Supporting Protecting Older Job Applicants
The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) is a coalition of 69 national nonprofit organizations concerned with the well-being of America’s older population and committed to representing their interests in the policy-making arena. We urge you to strengthen protections for older workers by voting for H.R. 3992, the Protect Older Job Applicants Act (POJA) of 2021. POJA would clarify that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act’s (ADEA) prohibition against all forms of employment discrimination based on age covers individuals during the hiring phase of employment.
Chair’s Letter on LCAO’s Support for the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Restoration Act
The Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) is a coalition of 69 national nonprofit organizations concerned with the well-being of America’s older population and committed to representing their interests in the policy-making arena. We are writing to urge you to support the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Restoration Act (H.R. 3824/S. 2065). Supplemental Security Income (SSI) was created almost 50 years ago to cover the basic needs of older adults and people with disabilities living in extreme poverty. Today the program is falling short of that goal because it has remained frozen in time and keeps out the very people it was meant to help.
Read LCAO chair Katie Smith Sloan’s letter on LCAO’s support for a care infrastructure package.