On January 30, 1975, President Ford proposed to rescind the entire fiscal 1975 appropriation of $12 million for the title IX program.

Under the new Budget and Impoundment Control Act,10 congressional approval is necessary to ratify executive actions to withhold funds from Federal programs.

The Congress not only rejected the administration's proposed rescission but also sought additional funding. On March 12, 1975 the House of Representatives approved an emergency employment appropriations bill (H.R. 4481), which included an additional $24 million for fiscal 1975 for the title IX Older American Community Service Employment Act. The House Appropriations Committee report further directed the Department of Labor to obligate the $12 million already appropriated under the fiscal 1975 Labor-HEW Appropriations Act. 11

C. MAINSTREAM: END OF NATIONAL CONTRACTORS?

In the same letter of March 5, 1974 (see discussion under "Some Limited Victories") the Department of Labor also said that the Mainstream older worker pilot projects were to be terminated as nationally administered programs on June 30, 1975. Under the administration's proposal, national contractors would then apply for funding with prime sponsors (primarily State and local governments) under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act.

Only 10 of the 129 Mainstream projects or less than 8 percenthave received even tentative commitments from CETA prime sponsors for possible continuation of the older worker programs.

Thus, several thousand aged persons are conceivably faced with the ominous prospect of losing their jobs during a period of high inflation. In a white paper issued on January 16, 1975, the National Farmers Union, the National Council on the Aging, the National Council of Senior Citizens, and the National Retired Teachers AssociationAmerican Association of Retired Persons stated:

At a time when the nation is reeling with the highest unemployment rate in a quarter of a century, when many older people are cutting back from two meals to one meal a day and when social service agencies will be strained to their utmost, America surely needs the help of these older people experienced in providing social services in their own communities. What this country doesn't need is more unemployed lonely old people dependent on the system for a handout.12

D. KENNEDY BILL TO CONTINUE TITLE IX

Senator Kennedy introduced S. 962 (on March 5, 1975) to continue the Older American Community Service Employment Act for 3 years at a $450 million authorization level: $100 million for fiscal

10 Public Law 93-344, approved July 12, 1974. See also p. 7 (Chapter I: "The Administration Strategy for Cutback in Aging") for more detailed discussion of the Budget and Impoundment Control Act.

11 See Chapter I ("The Administration Strategy for Cutbacks in Aging") for further discussion of funding for Older American Community Service Employment Act.

12 "An Appeal to Congress to Save the Senior Citizens Community Service Employment Program," prepared jointly by National Farmers Union, National Council on the Aging, National Council of Senior Citizens, and National Retired Teachers Association-American Association of Retired Persons, January 16, 1975, p. 1.

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1976, $150 million for fiscal 1977 and $200 million for fiscal 1978. S. 962 also includes language to reaffirm congressional intent that the national contractors should have a major role in administering the title IX program.

Senator Kennedy described some of the outstanding achievements by the national contractors in his floor remarks:

NRTA-AARP's senior community service employment program has compiled a remarkable record of placing 49 percent of its enrollees into unsubsidized employment. Yet the average age of enrollees remains at 66 and those enrollees include substantial numbers of minority group members, physically handicapped and even ex-offenders.

The National Council on the Aging currently reports eight applicants for each available job. And they note that the programs are "designed to promote self-help, not dependency."

The National Farmers Union operates the green thumb program, which concentrates its activities in rural towns and communities. Its workers strengthen existing community services, direct conservation programs, and provide special outreach services to help the aged shut-ins and the handicapped. It has been the pioneer in rural community service employment and it has produced exceptional successes in the 25 States in which it operates.

The National Council of Senior Citizens has been a vigorous supporter of the title IX program and was one of the earliest innovators in the field of community service employment for older persons. They have had 1,200 formal requests from communities in all 50 States for a senior aides program-yet they cannot meet those requests with current funding 13

Senator Church added:

During its 2 years of existence the title IX senior service corps has proved to be an enormously effective program, not only for the elderly participants but also the communities served.

In practically every case the program has been oversubscribed. For example, the National Council of Senior Citizens' Senior Aides program has anywhere from 7 to 10 applicants for each position available.

The enthusiastic acceptance of this program-as well as those sponsored by National Retired Teachers AssociationAmerican Association of Retired Persons, National Farmers Union, and the National Council on the Aging-strongly suggests that there are many low-income older Americans in virtually every community who are ready, willing, and able to serve in their localities.14

On April 8, 1975, the House of Representatives passed the Older Americans Amendments (H.R. 3922) which made major changes in the Older Americans Act, the Older American Community Service Employment Act, and other legislation affecting the elderly. H.R.

13 Congressional Record, March 5, 1975, p. 3099. 14 Congressional Record, March 5, 1975, p. 3105.

3922 would extend the title IX program with a $700 million authorization ($100 million for fiscal 1976, $150 million for 1977, $200 million for 1978, and $250 million for 1979). If fully funded, the bill would provide 33,000 job opportunities in fiscal 1976 for low-income persons 55 or older.

The Subcommittee on Aging of the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee conducted a hearing on the title IX extension on March 19, 1975.

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Today there are many elderly persons who are ready, willing, and able to serve in their communities. Volunteer and community service programs can be geared to their special needs, especially those who find that retirement shuts them off from purposeful activity.

What is needed, though, is a genuine commitment and working partnership on the part of the administration and Congress to expand service activities for those who want to remain active or those who must work to supplement their retirement benefits. As necessary first steps toward implementing this goal, the committee recommends the following:

The Older American Community Service Employment Act should be extended.

The national contractors-because of their high-level expertise concering problems confronting older workers should continue to have a major role in administering Mainstream and the Older American Community Service Employment program.

Adequate funding should be provided to permit the sound growth of Mainstream, the Older American Community Service Employment Act, Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions, RSVP, the Action Corps of Executives, and Service Corps of Retired Executives.

Careful consideration should be given by the legislative and executive branches to the appropriate placement of Foster Grandparents and RSVP when the Older Americans Act is acted upor by the Congress.

CHAPTER XI

1976-MIDWAY BETWEEN WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCES ON AGING

One theme heard again and again during the preparations and early aftermath of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging was that the conference was just one event in a continuing effort dedicated to better lives for older Americans.1

Much the same point was made in a report 2 which appeared almost two years later and said on behalf of the Administration then in power:

It is clear that this report cannot properly be viewed as the end of the process. The work must-and will—go on. It must go on in order, as the President has urged, to make ours a time of which can be said, "the glory of the present age is that in it men and women can grow old" and can do so with grace and pride and dignity, honored and useful citizens of the land they did so much to build.

A Post-Conference Board emphatically agreed with the need for continuing action in their own part of the same report. They also called for action going considerably beyond the Administration's position in important areas.

Whatever the 1973 reports called for, it is clear that the field of aging even the part of it which can properly be related to governmental concern-is so fast-changing and so directly influenced by social and economic forces of the day, that no set of recommendations or policies will remain fully valid for very long.

This is particularly true during a period in which the United States faces inflation, recession, new questions about the Federal role in maintaining the well-being of its citizens, vast changes on the international scene, and even self-searching about the very goals of our nation.

Recent events related to our Social Security system (see chapter II) provide an example of swift changes which have occurred since 1971. Benefits have been raised significantly; a new supplementary payments program is administered through the Social Security Ad

1 For full information on the background, organization, and recommendations of the Conference (Nov. 23-Dec. 2, 1971), see The 1971 Conference on Aging: Toward A National Policy on Aging, Vol. I-II Stock No. 1762-0069, For Sale, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Govt. Ptg. Off., Wash., D.C. 20402. Price $6.75 per 2-volume set. Sold in sets only. For an interpretation of Conference recommendations and early Congressional and Administration response, see Developments in Aging: 1971 and January-March 1972, Annual Report of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, pp. 1–81.

2 Post-White House Conference on Aging Reports: 1973, containing Towards a New Attitude on Aging-April 1973: A Report on the Administration's Continuing Response to the Recommendations of the Delegates to the 1971 White House Conference on Aging, together with Final Report of the Post-Conference Board of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging-June 1973, prepared for the Subcommittee on Aging of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare and the Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senate, September 1973.

ministration; automatic cost-of-living adjustments are now required by law; and inflation and recession are putting new strains on the overall system.

In short, in the area of retirement income alone, events and trends that could not have been anticipated have indeed happened, sometimes in combination that surprised even the most informed onlookers.

Much the same is true in other areas related to aging: progress is occurring, but so are new problems. And so are new combinations of both.

Next year, 1976, will be the Bicentennial of this Nation.

It will also be the fifth anniversary year of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging. If the present pattern continues-a White House Conference on Aging every 10 years then 1976 will be mid-way between the one held in 1971 and the one likely to be held in 1981.

The Senate Committee on Aging-well aware of the pressing need for action on so many fronts related to aging-would be reluctant to divert resources and human energies into unrewarding or redundant activities during a year as momentous as 1976 should be.

But the committee is also aware of the need for measuring progress and evaluating new demands that have occurred since 1971. Therefore, to augment the suggestion made by committee Chairman Frank Church in the preface to this report, the committee asks for letters or other communication in response to these questions:

-Should legislation be introduced-or the administration be requested by the Congress through this committee-to call for a White House Conference on Aging in 1976 similar to the 1971 Conference in terms of subject matter and general approach, but on a much-reduced scale?

Or should a conference be held covering the gamut of subjects of greatest Federal concern, without any attempt to duplicate-even on a reduced scale-the format and subjects of special emphasis chosen for the 1971 Conference?

Or perhaps one subject of overriding immediacy or importance could be chosen for intensive attention in 1976. Senators Moss and Church, for example, have already introduced legislation calling for a White House Conference on Long-Term Care and offering $500,000 for this purpose. There is much to be said. for long-term care as an appropriate subject for intensive attention mid-way between White House Conferences on Aging. Important issues related to overall health resources and pervasive attitudes toward aging would be involved, as would the overall income situation of the elderly. In addition, momentum for genuine reform in the nursing home field is now at what may be an historic high; a conference next year would be timely and possibly a watershed in gerontological history.

-On the other hand, perhaps a similar case could be made for other subjects. Among them, the attempt to define "adequacy" in terms of retirement income and in terms of the Federal commitment toward that end; special needs of the elderly in any national health insurance program (unless resolved by that time); issues related to the delivery of services to the elderly, et cetera.