[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 99 (Thursday, June 28, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Page S4726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      By Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Kirk, and Ms. Mikulski):
  S. 3358. A bill to amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to provide 
social services agencies with the resources to provide services to meet 
the unique needs of the Holocaust survivors to age in place with 
dignity, comfort, security, and quality of life; to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of myself and 
Senators Kirk and Mikulski to introduce the Responding to Urgent needs 
of Survivors of the Holocaust Act or the RUSH Act.
  Our bill will provide needed protections for survivors of the 
Holocaust who managed to make it to the United States after years of 
prolonged terror, abuse, and desperation. Millions fled from the 
cruelty of the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945, from territories 
annexed, invaded or occupied by Nazi Germany and from their Axis 
partner countries in Europe as well.
  Millions of others were killed during the Holocaust, exterminated by 
a ruthless machine propagated by the Nazi party. Those who escaped the 
terror of the Nazi regime carried with them experiences that can never 
be forgotten, and have adversely affected their ability to cope with 
institutionalized settings.
  Many Holocaust survivors living in the United States would prefer to 
spend their days at home with their families, rather than being moved 
into settings where they lose autonomy, privacy, and control, which can 
bring back painful trauma from their experiences under Nazi rule. This 
bill would amend the Older Americans Act to ensure that Holocaust 
survivors can better access needed services, such as health care and 
nutrition services, without having to live in a nursing or assisted 
living facility.
  As of 2010, there were approximately 127,000 Holocaust survivors 
living in the United States, and more than three quarters of them are 
over age 75, with a majority in their 80s and 90s. By focusing on home 
and community-based long-term care, we can help ensure that fewer 
survivors are dependent on the unpaid support of family caregivers, or 
have to resort to unnecessary institutionalization.
  All aging Americans deserve access to needed community supports and 
services in comfortable settings that are neither mentally nor 
physically traumatizing. These great Americans deserve our efforts to 
ensure that they are better able to age in place. I ask my colleagues 
to join me in support of this bill.

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