Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 2967 - Older Americans Act Amendments of 1991

(House)
(Martinez (D) CA and seven others)

The Administration supports reauthorization of the Older Americans Act of 1965 and the Native American Programs Act of 1974. Nevertheless, the Administration opposes enactment of H.R. 2967 on several grounds.

While the bill is an improvement from the original committee bill, the provisions relating to a 1993 Conference on Aging continue to be problematic. In particular, the bill would create a hybrid Policy Committee that is not clearly legislative or executive. Past White House Conferences have not had such policy oversight, and there is no apparent reason for such an intrusion in this legislation.

In addition, the Administration continues to object to other provisions of H.R. 2967. Specifically, the bill would: (1) provide excessive appropriation authorization levels; (2) unnecessarily mandate a Federal Long-Term Care Ombudsman and inappropriately provide subpoena power; and (3) authorize unwarranted new State formula grant programs.

H.R. 2967 also includes a number of overly prescriptive provisions, such as mandates for specified demonstrations with respect to Older Americans and Native Hawaiians and mandatory minimum staffing levels for the Administration for Native Americans. In addition, the Administration is concerned that the pension counseling demonstration authorized in H.R. 2967 could duplicate an existing program administered by the Department of Labor.

The Administration will work to remedy these problems in the House-Senate conference.