Public Policy & Action

• Federal Budget
• Older Americans Act Reauthorization
• Long-Term Services & Supports
• Elder Justice
• Advocacy Toolkit

Resources

For Professionals

• MIPPA - Three Years On
• President Releases Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Proposal
• Next Steps in the Federal Budget Debate
• Federal Budget Debates Leave Falls Prevention Funding Hanging
• MIPPA: What We’ve Learned, and What’s Next - Past Event
• Immigration Reform: Key Issues for Older Adults, Individuals with Disabilities, and Home and Community-Based Services - Past Event

For Older Adults and Caregivers

• 5 Ways to Save Money on Your Medications
• Fiscal Cliff Deal: What It Means for Seniors

For Advocates

• MIPPA - Three Years On
• President Releases Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Proposal
• Preventing Funding Cuts for Healthy Aging Programs: What You Can Do to Help - Past Event

Advocacy Toolkit: Federal Budget

Congress is debating ways to cut the federal deficit. Help us make sure that deficit reduction does not come at the expense of programs that serve vulnerable older adults.

Ways to Act

1. Share a Story

Federal Budget Battle: How Would Cuts Affect Seniors in Your Community?
Tell us what across-the-board cuts under a sequester would mean to you, and we'll share your stories with policymakers.

Increasing Medicare Out-of Pocket Costs: How Would It Affect Vulnerable Seniors?
Proposals in Congress would increase out-of-pocket costs for people with Medicare. Share how this would affect vulnerable seniors in your community.

2. Meet with Your Lawmakers

Members of Congress will be home during two upcoming Congressional recesses: Feb. 16-24 and March 23-April 7. Bring your story directly to your lawmakers by setting up a meeting, hosting a site visit, or attending a town hall event.

4 Steps to Connect with Your Lawmakers

1. Find your legislators' contact information using our online look-up service. Be sure to click on "expand" next to each individual's listing to get phone numbers for local office(s).
2. Prepare for an in-person meeting or host a site visit with your legislator.
3. Attend a town hall meeting if there's one in your area.
4. Tell us how it went. Your response will help us track our advocacy efforts.

Talking Points

1. Let’s not balance the budget on the backs of America’s vulnerable and disadvantaged seniors. 
2. Proposals to drastically cut and place spending caps on community service programs like the Older Americans Act could eliminate jobs, housing, and home and community-based services for seniors in need.
3. We need to reduce the deficit in a balanced way with broad, shared sacrifices—including revenues—not with unfair, drastic cuts that target seniors and others who are already struggling to make ends meet.

Learn More

• Federal Budget
  Read more about what's at stake and what NCOA and other organizations are saying about the debt ceiling and FY13 budget proposals.
• Policy Basics: Introduction to the Federal Budget Process
  Understand the difference between a budget request and a budget resolution, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
• Federal Budget 101
  Read a tutorial from the National Priorities Project on where the money comes from and where it goes.

want to live in a country where

older adults don't have to choose between paying for medicine or food.