12 manpower services for all workers, including those who have reached the age of eligibility under S. 555. The administration will, in the near future, transmit to Congress a recommendation for legislation strengthening the National Older Americans Volunteer program, which was authorized 2 years ago as title VI of the Older Americans Act of 1965. The administration will propose that one part of the present program, Foster Grandparents, be authorized to use low-income persons, age 60 or over, to meet a wide variety of community needs. The administering agency, ACTION, would, through grants or contracts with public and nonprofit private agencies and organizations, pay up to 90 percent of the cost of such projects. There are similarities between the proposal which will be recommended by the administration and S. 555, but there are also differences. We believe that the service orientation in the upcoming administration proposal is preferable to the employment orientation in S. 555. While the administration proposal will include compensation, the emphasis will be upon providing elderly participants with the nonmaterial rewards of serving, such as the satisfaction of engaging in interesting and useful activities, the resulting benefits to mental and physical health and morale, and the opportunity of escaping from loneliness and isolation and enjoying interacting with others who serve and with those who are served. In addition, the administration's proposal will be superior to S. 555 in that the emphasis will be upon providing needed services which would not otherwise be provided. We would, therefore, recommend that S. 555 not be favorably considered. We are advised by the Office of Management and Budget that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administration's program. Sincerely, ELLIOT L. RICHARDSON, Secretary. SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Short title. SEC. 2. (a) Authorizes the Secretary of Labor to establish an older Americans community service employment program for unemployed low-income persons who are 55 years old or older and who have poor employment prospects. (b) The Secretary is authorized to— (1) enter into agreements with public or private nonprofit agencies or organizations, State or local government agencies, or Indian tribes on Federal or State reservatons for the establishment and payment of costs of projects to provide community service jobs for older persons. The Secretary shall require that each such project (A) will provide employment only for eligible individuals except for necessary administrative personnel; (B) will employ such individuals in or near the communities in which they live; (C) will provide such employment only on publicly owned facilities or on facilities of charitable organizations, so long as not used for sectarian purposes; S. Rept. 92-1133 13 (D) will contribute to the community welfare; (E) will provide employment only for eligible individuals whose prospects for other employment are poor; (F) will increase employment opportunities and not displace existing workers; (G) will utilize effective and equitable methods of recruitment and selection; (H) will include appropriate training; (I) will assure a safe workplace and wages no lower than the Federal minimum wage, the State or local minimum wage, or the prevailing wage, whichever is highest; (J) will be administered by competent and knowledgable persons; (K) will pay necessary transportation costs; (L) will assure the equitable participation of minorities, Indian, and limited English-speaking persons. (2) The Secretary is further authorized to issue necessary regulations. (c) (1) Authorizes a Federal payment of up to 90 percent of project costs except that 100 percent of such costs is authorized to be paid in emergency or disaster projects or projects located in an economically depressed area. (2) The local share may be in cash or kind. SEC. 3. (a) Directs the Secretary to consult with State and local officials in determining the local of projects. (b) Provides for cordination of projects established under this bill with related projects established under other authorities. (c) Authorizes the Secretary to use the services, personnel, and facilities of other agencies, with their consent. (d) Directs the Secretary to insure the equitable participation in the operation of projects of private agencies and organizations. (e) Describes method of payment. (f) Prohibits the Secretary from delegating functions under this act to any other department or agency. SEC. 4. (a) Provides that project participants shall not be Federal employees. (b) Provides for workmen's compensation coverage of project participants. SEC. 5. Directs the Secretary to consult and cooperate with the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Administration on Aging, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in the operation of the program. SEC. 6. Establishes formula for the allotment and reallotment, by State, to projects within each State of sums appropriated under the bill. SEC. 7. Defines the terms "State," "eligible individual," and "community service" as used in the bill. SEC. 8. Authorizes the appropriation of $100 million for fiscal year 1973 and $150 million for fiscal year 1974. S. Rept. 92-1133 SUPPLEMENTAL VIEWS OF MR. JAVITS AND MR. BEALL We support generally the Older American Community Service Employment Act, which would authorize $100 million for fiscal year 1973 and $150 million for fiscal year 1974, to provide public service employment opportunities to low-income persons fifty-five years and older. The conditions of unemployment and job scarcity which affect many of our citizens are particularly harsh in their effect on older persons; most vulnerable to technological change and subject as well to age discrimination, and older worker is often at a disadvantage in competing for existing jobs in the labor market. As a result, there are approximately 6 million persons aged fiftyfive and older living in poverty-representing more than twenty percent of the Nation's 25.9 million poor; in fact 2.9 million Americans fifty-five or older are public assistance recipients. Existing public service employment and work experience programs have not been adequate to meet the employment needs of such persons. The Emergency Employment Act of 1971, the principal legislative source for public service jobs has brought only limited benefits to older persons. The Department of Labor reports that of the 177,528 persons employed under the Act as of July 31, 1972, 9,596, or less than six percent, were fifty-five years or older and the Department estimates that the same approximate number of employment opportunities for older persons will be available in fiscal 1973. "Operation Mainstream" conducted under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which provides work experience for older persons, is projected at a level of 29,800 opportunities for fiscal 1973. Accordingly, it may be estimated that for fiscal 1973 an aggregate of approximately 40,000 public service employment and work experience opportunities will be available for older persons, a number less than one precent of the more than 6 million persons in that age group living in poverty. The Older American Community Service Employment Act provides an authorization for the creation of an additional 40,000 jobs in fiscal year 1973 and for 60,000 jobs in fiscal year 1974, in public service areas of crucial importance to older persons as well as to others, such as health, transportation, housing, rural development and environmental action. The Administration opposes this legislation on the basis that it would establish a new "categorical" manpower program and urges that the needs of older workers be met by the States, counties and cities through comprehensive manpower reform legislation, such as proposed by the Administration in S. 1243, the Manpower Revenue Sharing Act of 1971. We understand the Administration's position and share the desire for consolidation of existing programs through manpower reform. In that context, and the related review of the Emergency Employment (14) S. Rept. 92-1133 15 Act, we believe that a quotient of public service jobs could be ensured for older persons without establishing a new and separate program. Unfortunately, fulfillment of the Committee's obligations with respect to the extension of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, under which many of the existing manpower programs are conducted, has necessarily delayed consideration of manpower reform. We believe that in the absence of such considerations the employment needs of persons fifty-five years or older are of such importance as to require separate action. However, to alleviate the administrative effects of establishing a new program, we added to the Committee bill special authority for the Secretary of Labor to coordinate with existing programs and to integrate this program into any comprehensive manpower legislation that may hereinafter be enacted. We anticipate the possibility that action by the Committee on manpower reform and the Emergency Employment Act may commence prior to consideration of this bill by the full Senate. If so, then we reserve the right to have this legislation reconsidered in that context, if it is determined that such reconsideration would not unduly delay the provision of opportunities for older persons. We firmly believe that the matter of employment problems for older workers, particularly those in the low-income category, deserves greater attention than has been accorded to date. As noted in recent interim recommendations of the 1971 White House Conference on Aging: The Nation's present manpower programs fail to take adequate account of the unemployment problems of older people. Experience proves that adequate funds must be earmarked to improve employment opportunities for older workers. We share that assessment and support the Committee's bill as one means of beginning more adequately to deal with the needs of this group, which has earned the Nation's continued attention and concern. JACOB K. JAVITS, S. Rept. 92-1133 TITLE-BY-TITLE SUMMARY OF H.R. 15657, THE OLDER AMERICANS COMPREHENSIVE SERVICES AMENDMENTS OF 1972 TITLE I-DECLARATION OF OBJECTIVES The Congress expanded the objectives contained in the original Older Americans Act of 1965 by placing emphasis on the need to make comprehensive social service programs available to older Americans and to insure their participation in the development of these programs. TITLE II-ADMINISTRATION ON AGING This Title establishes the Administration on Aging and places it within the Office of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. AoA is headed by a Commissioner on Aging who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Administration on Aging is given primary responsibility for carrying out the programs authorized under this Act. Language has also been included which is designed to protect the administrative integrity of the Administration on Aging so as to guarantee that AoA carries out the mandate prescribed by Congress in this legislation. Title II also creates a "National Information and Resource Clearing House for the Aging" which is designed to collect, analyze, prepare and disseminate information regarding the needs and interests of older Americans. In addition, Title II contains a provision establishing a "Federal Council on the Aging" which will be composed of 15 members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The Council will assist and advise the President on matters relating to the needs of older Americans; review and evaluate the impact of Federal policies and programs on the Aging; serve as a spokesman on behalf of older Americans by making recommendations to the President, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, the Commissioner on Aging, and the Congress with respect to federal activities in the field of aging; and undertake programs designed to increase public awareness of the problems and needs of our senior citizens. The Federal Council on the Aging will also undertake various studies designed to further clarify the specific needs of the elderly and recommend solutions to them. TITLE III- -GRANTS FOR STATE AND COMMUNITY PROGRAMS ON AGING Under Title III, the Administration on Aging will work with State aging offices to develop a state-wide plan for delivering social services to senior citizens. Each state will be divided into planning and service areas which will bear the primary responsibility for developing the apparatus required to deliver social and nutritional services to the elderly. These area aging units are designed to coordinate existing (243) |