Opposition to President's Budget Cuts to Senior Job Program

The National Council on the Aging (NCOA) has announced that it will vigorously oppose a $44 million cut and radical restructuring of the the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) contained in President Bush's proposed budget.

"This short-sighted proposal would be a major setback for low- income older workers and the entire aging network," said Howard Bedlin, NCOA's vice president of Policy and Advocacy. It would end a successful system that currently uses national sponsors to carry out most of the program, by block granting all the money to the states, while eliminating the program's historic commitment to community service.

"Eliminating national sponsors from the program would also make it less effective in serving its target population of low- income seniors," Bedlin added. "The national sponsors have proven expertise in serving difficult-to-reach populations."

In addition, NCOA believes that including this contentious proposal in proposals to reauthorize the Older Americans Act, will derail reauthorization and thus prevent Congress from achieving the top priority of the delegates to the recent once-a- decade White House Conference on Aging.

Source: News Release U.S. Newswire (Feburary 6, 2006)