Description:
H.R. 4334 would amend the Older Americans Act (OAA) of 1965, which provides funding through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) for services to the elderly. HHS administers most programs authorized by the act, including congregate and home-delivered meals, home and community-based supportive services (such as assistance with transportation, in-home care, and adult day care), and support for caregivers. DOL administers the Senior Community Service Employment program, which provides low-income senior citizens with work-based job training and community service opportunities. The authorization for the OAA programs expired at the end of fiscal year 2019; those programs received discretionary appropriations totaling $2.1 billion that year. H.R. 4334 also would extend the authority and obligations of the Family Caregiving Advisory Council and the Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren for an additional year to 2022. Those extensions would cost less than $500,000 in 2022. H.R. 4334 would authorize the appropriation of $12.5 billion over the 2020-2024 period for OAA programs. Assuming appropriation of specified amounts, and based on historical spending patterns, CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $10.9 billion over the same period and $1.4 billion after 2024. The bill would authorize the appropriation of specific amounts for those programs, totaling $10.1 billion for HHS, and $2.4 billion for DOL over the 2020‑2024 period. For this estimate, CBO assumes that H.R. 4334 will be enacted near the beginning of 2020. The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 500 (education, training, employment, and social services.)
