[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 167 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H11500-H11503]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MOTION TO INSTRUCT CONFEREES ON H.R. 2660, DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH
AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS
ACT, 2004
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to
instruct.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion.
The Clerk read as follows:
Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island moves that the managers on the
part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes
of the two Houses on the bill, H.R. 2660, be instructed to
insist on the highest funding levels possible for nutrition
programs for our nation's seniors as authorized by the Older
Americans Act.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 7 of rule XXII, the
gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy) and the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Regula) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy).
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
Today I rise to offer a motion to instruct the House conferees on the
2004 Labor, HHS and Education appropriations bill to insist on the
highest level of funding possible for nutrition programs for seniors,
programs such as Meals on Wheels and congregated meal sites.
As I rise this evening, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Regula) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), who are both
leaders on the Labor-HHS-Education subcommittee and who both know how
important these programs are. I want to thank them for their hard work
year in and year out to protect these programs so vital to our senior
citizens.
This week we are debating controversial legislation, as Members have
just no doubt heard, on the floor about the future of the Medicare
system and the importance of providing a drug benefit without forcing
seniors into HMOs. But the importance of that debate will be left to
another time. Tonight we are in agreement when it comes to the
importance of senior nutrition programs, and this truly is a bipartisan
issue.
I know that most Members of this Chamber have often visited their
senior centers and know, having spoken to them, how important it is
that they receive these congregated meals. Tonight, this is an
opportunity to put our money where our mouth is, and it is an actual
opportunity to encourage our conferees to spend the money on senior
nutrition. Even in spite of the fact that we have tight budgets, we
cannot give senior citizens short shrift.
As I said, Members know about these programs, but I do not know how
many of them truly appreciate their magnitude and reach. I would
encourage those colleagues of mine who have not been out on a Meals on
Wheels visit to go out with a volunteer and visit the people for whom
these programs help make a difference. Nearly 2 million people receive
meals through the congregated meal site program and 1 million through
the Meals on Wheels program. This adds up to a total of 250 million
actual meals served. That is a compelling statistic that reflects the
nature of these programs.
My father, Senator Edward Kennedy, was the author of the legislation
that made the seniors' nutrition programs part of the Older Americans
Act. I am proud that my father, Senator Edward Kennedy, was responsible
for the founding of Meals on Wheels. What he and others of his
colleagues have recognized over 30 years is that Meals on Wheels is an
important program not only for the nutrition that it brings but also
because of the companionship and the neighbor-to-neighbor relationship
that it fosters. For many seniors, not only at the home is delivered a
meal but a face with that meal, a person, someone who can offer
companionship and friendship and know what is going on in the home when
they arrive and deliver the meal. The value of these meals pays itself
back in both the importance of good nutrition and also through the
companionship and care that these meal volunteers provide.
We talk in Congress about how an ounce of prevention is worth a pound
of cure. That is nowhere more true than the Meals on Wheels and the
congregated meal site programs. In the congregated meal site programs,
seniors get together at the senior centers to join in lunch; but in the
process of doing that, they are exposed to an array of social services
that may also be of assistance to them. Unfortunately, as many of us
know in our Nation, one in 10 seniors lives in poverty. At the same
time, there is expected to be a 30 percent increase in the number of
Americans eligible for the Older Americans Act now that the baby boom
generation is becoming the senior boom generation. Already in my State
of Rhode Island, 14.5 percent of our population is 65 or older. We need
to be ready for this population as it retires. We need to be ready for
them as we take care of the seniors of today.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, before I turn it over to my colleagues, let me
say, I have met Edna Bateman in one of my tours on a senior meal site.
Edna Bateman is from East Providence, Rhode Island, and she knows what
a difference it has made to her in her life not only to get that hot
meal but also to have that companionship, that visitor every day that
she is looking forward to seeing, who she wakes up every morning
looking forward to talking to, who she unlocks her door and leaves it
open so that she looks forward to hearing that Meals on Wheels
volunteer coming to her door.
That is why I rise tonight to make sure more people like Edna Bateman
get the services like this Meals on Wheels program. I want to pay
tribute to her and the many others who receive this program. Tonight I
know we all rise in support of those folks.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
(Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Rhode Island has
described many of the values of this program. He is a very valued
member of our subcommittee. As he well knows, we have done all we could
for this program within the constraints of the Budget Act. It is a
great program. I think one of the benefits that probably was not
mentioned is it gives a lot of people in communities a sense of
participation because these meals are delivered by volunteers in most
cases if
[[Page H11501]]
not all. That means that those in the community who are doing this
service realize that they are helping the seniors. It gives them an
understanding, but most importantly, of course, as the gentleman from
Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy) described, it is very important to the
beneficiaries of the program.
As has been mentioned, it is not only the nutrition and that is
important. Seventy-nine percent of the individuals that are recipients
have a high nutritional risk and the Meals on Wheels ensures that they
will get, at least as much as possible, a balanced diet which obviously
will contribute to their health.
We were earlier debating some aspects of the Medicare reform bill and
the prescription drug change. I think that bill does more on preventive
medicine than has been the case in the past. An item such as requiring
that those who go on Medicare must first have a medical examination to
see if they have any problems, that will now be covered by Medicare. I
think that is a great provision. But part of preventive medicine is
having a nutritious diet. The Older Americans Act nutrition programs
serve that purpose. As was mentioned, over 270 million meals to almost
3 million people that benefit. They benefit in a congregate setting and
also as individuals in their homes.
What it does is allow people to stay in their homes for a longer
period of time. In my discussion with seniors, they want to stay at
home as long as possible. They do not want to be institutionalized.
Meals on Wheels affords them that privilege. I wish we could do more. I
wish the budget numbers that were provided to our subcommittee were
larger, but we have a lot of challenges in the Labor-H subcommittee. We
have the challenges of funding the research at the National Institutes
of Health. We have the challenges of funding the Centers for Disease
Control; that has a new dimension because of 9/11. We have the
challenge of providing good education to ensure that no child is left
behind. We have the challenge in the Labor Department of providing
services to those that are unemployed so that they can get back into
employment. We have some tough policy decisions that we have to make.
We do put a lot of money into the Older Americans Act. I and all of
us wish it could be more, but we have to balance out the needs of the
seniors and the Meals on Wheels programs with education, health
research and so on. But on balance this is good preventive medicine, to
provide for nutritious meals. It also, as was mentioned, is very
important for their social well-being. The fact that somebody is going
to come to their home once a day for 5 days a week, it gives them a
sense of being a part of the community. Because these people that are
delivering these Meals on Wheels are volunteers, most of them have some
time that they can stop and visit a little bit with the clients. I
think that adds to their well-being and adds to their ability to be
comfortable in their home setting.
Another feature of this that we do not fully appreciate is that the
Meals on Wheels leverages a lot of other sources. It leverages the
State funds. In the case of the Native Americans, it leverages tribal
funds. It leverages local funds and Federal moneys and other
subcommittees of appropriations. These total contributions of matching
funds more than exceed what we put into the program in our bill. That
is a very positive thing that we do--leverage these funds.
I think for this reason I have no objection to this motion to
instruct. I wish we could do more, but we are limited in the total
resources that are available as we make the priority choices among many
very fine programs. We have in constructing this bill held the numbers
that can be available for the Meals on Wheels, the Older Americans Act
at the highest level possible within the constraints of the resources
that are provided to our subcommittee.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield
6 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) who
represents Cape Cod and the islands.
{time} 2300
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from
New England for his leadership in this very important issue. He
certainly has inherited a legacy from his father, and those of us from
Massachusetts are proud not only of our senior Senator but his son, his
youngest son.
As cochair of the House Older Americans Caucus, along with, of
course, the chairman of the committee who has established a reputation
for compassion and for concern for the elderly in this country, I too
rise in strong support of this motion because I share their belief that
Congress must fund senior nutrition programs at the highest levels
authorized by the Older Americans Act. The conferees should support the
funding levels set forth in the House conference report.
First, the health of our seniors depends on full funding of nutrition
programs. It has been clearly established in study after study that
poor eating habits can lead to serious medical problems for aging
adults, including the early onset of chronic diseases that inevitably
escalate the cost of health care here in this country. Frail and
homebound adults benefit enormously from the prepared meals supplied by
organizations such as Meals on Wheels. Indeed, that one meal can
provide half of their total nutritional requirements for the day. That
fact is truly significant when one considers that nearly 3 million
seniors benefitted from nutritional programs and services last year.
In my home State of Massachusetts, over 50,000 seniors rely on
congregate and home-delivered meals each year, as well as the
nutritional screenings and counseling authorized by the legislation.
Accordingly, the programs that we are talking about deliver, literally,
on our goal to meet the nutritional needs of older Americans.
Secondly, our commitment to provide the highest level of funding for
these activities makes sense economically and produces substantial
savings to the American taxpayer. Through these investments we are
saving costs in the long term, as I alluded to earlier, along with the
references by those who spoke previously. With home meal delivery,
seniors can live independently for longer periods. Furthermore, studies
show that these services also prevent costly hospitalizations resulting
from nutritional deficiencies and social isolation. That translates
into a substantial savings to the American taxpayer.
Third, I believe, as others have suggested, that the intangible
aspects of these programs provide an incredible benefit to our
communities and enhance a sense of community, not only to those that
receive directly these benefits, but to those who provide them. For
some individuals, the volunteer knocking at their door may be the only
visitor of the day. So in simple human terms, we cannot underestimate
the value that this single interaction may have for an elderly person,
many of whom are female, many of whom are widowed, many of whom live
alone. And it should not go unstated that tragically in this country,
many of our seniors, a disproportionate share of our seniors when
compared to the rest of the population, suffer from chronic depression.
So let me suggest that this is a point where government and
compassionate conservatism should intercept.
Finally, I would like to commend all those who volunteer to keep
these programs running. In my district, many of these individuals are
themselves active seniors. For all these reasons, I strongly support
these neighborhood organizations working to strengthen the connection
between seniors and their communities. So in recognition of their hard
work, as well as the needs of elderly Americans, I urge the conferees
to adopt the House language that was crafted by the gentleman from Ohio
and fund senior nutrition programs at the highest level. And, again,
let me applaud the great work of the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr.
Kennedy), Massachusetts and Rhode Island's native son.
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from
Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) for his comments.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms.
Berkley).
Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, as a cochairman of the Older Americans
Caucus, I rise tonight in support of the gentleman from Rhode Island's
(Mr.
[[Page H11502]]
Kennedy) motion to instruct the conferees of the Labor, Health and
Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill to provide full
funding for vital seniors' nutrition programs.
Over the next 5 years, the number of Americans eligible to take part
in programs under the Older Americans Act will rise by 25 percent as
the Baby Boom generation reaches retirement age. As the number of
seniors in the United States grows, it is vitally important that
nutrition programs are fully funded.
In my home State of Nevada, over 20,000 seniors are served millions
of meals annually at the senior centers, schools, and in their own
homes. In just the past 5 years, the Meals on Wheels program in
southern Nevada, which has the Nation's fastest growing seniors
population, has grown from serving 350 homebound clients to over 1,000
today.
As the senior population rapidly grows, the senior services in Las
Vegas are striving to keep up with the expanding demand. The Meals on
Wheels program in southern Nevada continues to develop innovative ways
to handle the growth and widen their service base to more seniors. For
instance, one driver delivers a week's worth of frozen meals once a
week to a seniors' home in Las Vegas instead of one hot meal a day.
For a senior who is disabled or lives alone, a hot meal delivered to
their home or served in a local senior center is invaluable to their
well-being and may be the only way that the older Americans are assured
that they receive the nutrition that they need to stay healthy. This is
especially true for those seniors living under the poverty level. In
2002 the national average of seniors living in poverty was 10 percent.
I am sorry to say that in my district 14.6 percent of the seniors are
living below the poverty level. For these seniors, assistance in
getting healthy meals is critical to their health and their well-being.
Not only are seniors grateful for the comfort of a hot meal, but a
study of the Elderly Nutrition Program found that senior participants
have a higher daily intake of key nutrients that seniors who do not
participate in the nutrition programs have. Funding Meals on Wheels and
other programs not only ensures adequate nutrition but also provides an
important link to supportive in-home and community-based services and
empowers seniors to remain self-sufficient in their own homes. The
drivers for Meals on Wheels in southern Nevada, all of whom are retired
seniors themselves, not only provide meals but are a critical link to
the community for many of the seniors that they serve.
I want to thank the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy) for his
leadership in offering this motion and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Regula) for his support. I urge my colleagues to support full funding
for the Nation's senior nutrition programs as a way to ensure the good
health and a better quality of life for seniors in Nevada and
nationwide.
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the
gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps).
{time} 2310
Mrs. CAPPS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from
Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy) for his leadership on this motion to
instruct conferees for full funding for senior nutrition programs and
to note that it is a second generation to take leadership in this area.
I commend, also, the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Regula), for his leadership in senior issues and the Older
Americans Act.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this motion because it is just at
the bottom of our priorities that we pay attention to senior nutrition.
Very few images are more upsetting and unsettling to any of us to think
of our parents and our grandparents, our neighbors, and the elderly
going without proper nutrition. Unfortunately, too many seniors live in
poverty in our communities and must struggle daily to get the food they
need. This is unacceptable and that is the reason for the passage of
the Older Americans Act and its reauthorization.
And here we are struggling with the fact that our Federal budget and
our appropriation process in this hallowed body is really a reflection
of our values as Americans as people, with mothers and fathers, and
children and neighbors, and a responsibility to care for those who have
cared for us. That is the way this world runs when it is run according
to the highest values which we espouse.
Yes, budgets are tight, but we do make priorities. And I am here to
agree with my colleague, the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy)
that our older Americans ought to be a priority. It is such an honor to
represent a community and communities in my district, as we all do, to
visit among the people who make this program come to life. We fund the
Older Americans Act. We fund programs that allow Meals on Wheels to
exist. And when we see them at work in the communities, these programs
that are run by volunteers, that leverage our precious few dollars and
make those dollars stretch, I cannot believe the quality food that is
prepared on the budgets that we give them, that they get volunteer
donations, the drivers are so committed, their routes mean so much to
them, that knock on the door is life-giving to the person who resides
on the other side. For some it is their single connection to the
outside world. It is food but it is so much more than food.
Now, I just implore all of us here in this body to take seriously our
responsibility to fund this legislation at the proper amount that will
do justice to our reasons for being here.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a second and just
acknowledge the wonderful comments of my colleague, the gentlewoman
from California (Mrs. Capps) who so beautifully encapsulated the reason
we are here tonight speaking on behalf of this knowledge.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr.
DeFazio).
Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, I am perhaps the only Member of the House
of Representatives who has trained in the field of gerontology, run a
senior citizen program, perhaps someone else has, and actually gone
with volunteers, delivered meals in homes, supervised volunteers who
delivered meals in homes, and spent a lot of time at congregate meal
sites.
Let me tell my colleagues this: If any motion to instruct should be
nonpolitical and should receive the unanimous support of this body,
that should actually be respected by the group negotiating the
compromise here, it is this one, to provide the highest possible
levels.
Now, the President, unfortunately, proposed to actually cut funding
for Meals on Wheels. Now, he has a lot of ideas about people replacing
government programs and that. This is essentially a nongovernmental
program. It depends tremendously upon volunteers and community
assistance and a lot of locally generated contributions matched with a
little bit of Federal funds to leaven the mix. And the President's cut
would have eliminated this program for many.
A lot of seniors, this is the only person they are going to see in a
day. They are shut in. The only person they are going to see is the
person that brings them that hot meal. It helps them stay connected to
the community. It gives them a little bit of socialization. It allows
people to know that they are doing okay in their homes. There are not a
lot of other systems or places to do that. Many of them who I visited
with on Friday get very nervous and they cry on Mondays when they see
the people coming again. Over the weekend, they have the frozen meals
and they had something to eat, but they did not see anybody. They were
shut in.
Mr. Speaker, to cut this program as the President has proposed would
be a tremendous disservice to those who have given so much to our
country over so many productive years and now just need a little bit of
help to stay in their homes in their later years, the congregate meal
sites, to visit those, and the vitality of our senior citizens in later
years. It is inspiring to me many times when I go and I hear and I see
as I visit the congregate meal sites. But, again, it is also a
tremendous socialization experience.
So this House could do no better than to unanimously adopt this, but
not
[[Page H11503]]
only unanimously adopt this. We vote on an awful lot of motions to
instruct here that are immediately tossed in the trash can by the
negotiators. I would hope that this would be one motion that is
respected, where we deliver and where we give back a little bit to our
seniors who gave so much to us, our grandparents, our great
grandparents and others. The greatest generation deserves better than a
cut in the programs that are helping the most fragile and vulnerable of
them.
Mr. REGULA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, just briefly, I think for those that have listened to
this debate tonight, as a society we can take pride in this program of
the Older Americans Act. And I might add one that has not been
discussed yet is the Caregivers Program which is also in our
subcommittee to help people gain the knowledge of how to provide care
to their elderly relatives, family, and so on in the home setting. All
of this adds up to a real effort to allow those who want to stay in
their homes to do so. And in the House bill, we can increase the amount
over last year. And we will be very mindful of the thrust of this
instruction as we negotiate with the other body in a final number.
But, again, I would say that as Americans we can take pride in what
we have done, I think in the Older Americans Act, to allow people to
stay in their home, to allow people to have some social contact with
the other members of their community, to allow the volunteers who want
to help others to have this opportunity. So we certainly support the
motion to instruct. And as a conferee, I will do all that I can to urge
that we do get the highest possible number within the constraints of
priorities that we have in the bill and the constraints of the
allocation that we started with originally.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the committee, the
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula) who is chairman of the Labor Health
and Human Services and Education Subcommittee of the Committee on
appropriations on which I serve. I want to join him in saying that I
think we need to do a lot more within the Older Americans Act, not only
in the congregate meal site and the Meals on Wheels, but, as you
pointed out, the support for family members, many of them I know that
you understand are burning out because they do not have the support
that they need to care for their loved ones.
As the chairman has said so well, often the greatest number of
caregivers in this country are seniors themselves. And they are caring
for their loved ones, and they need to have all the support they can
get too. So I thank the chairman for acknowledging that. We need to
look out for the caregivers, as well, if we care about those that they
are caring for. I appreciate the fact that he made that observation.
With that, Mr. Speaker, let me just, once again, say that I rise in
support of this motion to instruct conferees, to see it to the highest
possible level when it comes to nutrition programs, Meals on Wheels,
and congregate meal site programs within the conference report.
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Kennedy
motion to instruct conferees to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations
bill to insist on the highest funding levels for senior nutrition
programs.
All of us know that the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill
contains many of the most worthwhile programs administered by the
federal government, and nutrition programs for seniors are just one
example.
As a new member of this subcommittee, I was impressed by the
testimony from the Administration on Aging outlining the enormous good
that these programs accomplish each year. Although Chairman Regula has
often reminded us of the need to comply with budget restrictions, I
believe he and the Republican members of the subcommittee know the
importance of increasing funding for these programs each year in order
to keep pace with inflation and to make progress in providing meals to
additional seniors.
In California, with an estimated population of over 35 million
people, over 4 million people are 65 years or over. These seniors are
served over 11 million home-based meals through Older Americans Act
programs, and another 9 million congregate meals are served.
These statistics are testament to the enormous leveraging effect that
federal nutrition programs accomplish. As testimony by the
Administration on Aging reveals, 44 percent of the cost of a congregate
meal and 29 percent of the cost of a home-delivered meal comes from
Older Americans Act funds--the balance comes from state, community and
private contributions.
Unfortunately, the demand still exceeds these combined federal and
local community efforts. The need for these programs is undisputed. In
fact, testimony from the Administration on Aging reveals that 41
percent of home-delivered nutrition programs and 9 percent of
congregate nutrition programs have waiting lists for services. On
average, local programs had 85 seniors on a home-delivered meals
waiting list with a wait time of nearly 3 months. On average, local
programs had 52 seniors on a congregate meals waiting list with a wait
time of about 2 months.
As the evidence indicates, I believe it is important that we strive
to make incremental progress every year to support the goal of adequate
nutrition for seniors by eliminating the waiting lists and providing
meals to all seniors who need then.
The differences between the House and Senate bills with regard to
senior meals may appear small--about 4 million dollars out of a total
of over $700 million for senior nutrition services. But we know these
dollars make an enormous difference in the lives of so many seniors.
I urge my colleagues to support the Kennedy motion so we can make
progress again this year.
Mr. Kennedy of Rhode Island. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of
my time.
{time} 2320
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Bishop of Utah). Without objection, the
previous question is ordered on the motion to instruct.
There was no objection.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to instruct
offered by the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy).
The motion to instruct was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________