Arrangements have been made for the use of this curriculum in 18 seminars for physicians held in various locations throughout the Nation.

4. Student-level curriculum enrichment activities have been undertaken by the Gerontology Branch in the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work and in the Tulane University School of Medicine.

5. A research project was developed early in 1965 to determine the effect of attitudinal and other factors on the need for and use of health services by the aged in a large urban area. A contract was awarded in July 1965 for the planning of a comparable study in nonmetropolitan communities.

6. As part of the Gerontology Branch's program for professional and public education, the Gerontology Branch, in cooperation with the National Education Television network, produced a film, "Ready for Edna," which depicts the broad range of health services needed for the aged. In September 1965 this film was telecast on the 100 stations of the network. A second film, "The Critical Decades," was produced for the Gerontology Branch by the Center for Mass Communications of the Columbia University Press. This film alerts the public to the importance of health maintenance and suggests to general practitioners the need for taking a positive approach with patients in this regard. "The Critical Decades" was selected as the PHS entry at the International Meeting of the International Scientific Film Association held in Bucharest, Rumania, in October 1965. The American Medical Association is distributing and promoting it through its film library.

F. MAJOR ACTIVITIES OF AGING PROGRAM, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

1. On May 10, 1965, there was established within the Aging Program an Aging Information Center in Bethesda, Md., to make available to scientists technical information and data needed in research, lists of current research publications, and abstracts of research articles on aging.

2. A Training Committee on Aging was established to review applications for training grants and fellowships in aging.

3. The Aging Program, jointly with the Office of Aging and the Housing and Home Finance Agency, held in Washington, D.C., on March 21-23, 1965, a conference on patterns of housing and living arrangements of the elderly.

4. Through a contact with the Salk Institute, the Aging Program held, at La Jolla, Calif., two conferences and a symposium on the biology of aging.

III. EMPLOYMENT

A. AGE DISCRIMINATION

On June 30, 1965, the Secretary of Labor issued a report entitled "The Older American Worker-Age Discrimination in Employment." The report was prepared and issued pursuant to section 715 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Pulic Law 88-352) which directed the Secretary to "make a full and complete study of the factors which might tend to result in discrimination in employment because of age and the consequences of such discrimination on the economy and individuals affected *** [with] recommendations for legislation to prevent arbitrary discrimination in employment because of age."

In the report, action was recommended in four general areas to prevent age discrimination in employment and increase employment opportunities for older workers:

1. Action to eliminate arbitrary age discrimination in employ

ment.

2. Action to adjust institutional arrangements which work to the disadvantage of older workers.

3. Action to increase the availability of work for older workers. 4. Action to enlarge educational concepts and institutions to meet the needs and opportunities of older age.

B. APPROPRIATION FOR OLDER WORKER "PROGRAM INCREASE"

In the fiscal 1966 budget there was a request for $750,000 for a "program increase" for the older worker program of the Bureau of Employment Security, and this amount was appropriated as an item in Public Law 89-156, the appropriation act of the Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare, and related agencies.

The Bureau of Employment Security plans to use these funds to allocate 100 additional staff positions to State employment services for improving service to older workers. Thirty-three of these positions will be used to provide full-time older worker specialists in the central offices of State agencies which now lack such positions. The remaining 67 positions will be used to staff demonstration projects in 5 metropolitan areas, each in a different State and region.

C. LIBERALIZING EARNINGS LIMITATIONS

1. Section 310 of the Social Security Amendments of 1965 (Public Law 89-97) liberalized the amount of earnings which can be received by a social security recipient under the age of 72 without loss of benefits. Under the law previously in effect, benefits were withheld from a beneficiary under 72 (and from any beneficiary drawing on his record) at the rate of $1 in benefits for each $2 of annual earnings between $1,200 and $1,700 and $1 in benefits for each $1 of annual earnings above $1,700. Under the new law, there is no withholding of social

security benefits from such a beneficiary unless he has at least $1,500 of annual earnings. One dollar of benefits is withheld for each $2 of annual earnings between $1,500 and $2,700, and $1 in benefits for each $1 of annual earnings above $2,700.

2. Section 403 (a) of that act liberalized the amount of income which a State may disregard in determining the need of a recipient of old-age assistance. Previously, of the first $50 per month of earned income, the State was permitted to disregard the first $10 plus one-half of the next $40 of earned income. Under the new law, the State is permitted to disregard not more than $5 per month of any income and, of the first $80 per month of additional income which is earned, the State may disregard the first $20 plus one-half of the next $60.

IV. CIVIL SERVICE RETIREMENT

H.R. 8469, a bill to increase civil service annuities, was passed by the House on August 3, 1965, and by the Senate on September 8, 1965. The House agreed to the Senate amendments on September 9, 1965, and the bill was signed into law on September 27, 1965 (Public Law 89-205).

The three principal provisions of the new law:

1. An 11-percent increase in all annuities having a commencing date prior to October 1, 1956.

2. A 6-percent increase in all annuities having a commencing date after that date and before December 1, 1965.1

3. A revision of the method of determining cost-of-living increases. Whenever the Consumer Price Index shows an increase of at least 3 percent over the index for September 1965 for each of 3 consecutive months, all annuities must be increased by the highest percentage (to the nearest tenth) shown in the 3-month period.

I Public Law 89-314 (Nov. 1, 1965) permits those retiring before Jan. 1, 1966, to receive this increase.

V. HOUSING

Provisions of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 (Public Law 89-117, approved Aug. 10, 1965) which relate to meeting the needs of the elderly:

1. THE RENT SUPPLEMENT PROGRAM

Section 101 authorizes the Administrator of HHFA to enter into contracts with nonprofit, cooperative, or limited-dividend sponsors of housing under which elderly and other eligible tenants would pay only 25 percent of their income toward rent and HHFA would pay the difference between that amount and established fair market rents. The elderly is one of the groups specifically enumerated as eligible for assistance under this section. The act authorized $30 million in such contracts for fiscal year 1966, and the increase of this limit by $35 million on July 1, 1966, by $40 million on July 1, 1967, and by $45 million on July 1, 1968.

The housing for which rent supplementation will be available will be built primarily under the section 221 (d) (3) market rate program of FHA. Rent supplements also will be available on a limited basis to housing built under the section 221(d) (3) below market rate program; the section 231 FHA housing for the elderly program; and the section 202 direct loan program for housing for the elderly. Rent supplements in housing under each of the last three programs will be limited to 5 percent of the aggregate amount of rent supplement contracts authorized.

On August 26, 1965, the President submitted a supplemental budget request for $30 million in contract authority and $900,000 in liquidating cash to fund this program during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1966. In passing the first supplemental appropriation bill for 1966 (H.R. 11588) on October 14, the House did not include these items. The Senate, in passing the bill on October 20, included $12 million for rent supplement contracts and $400,000 for cash payments. However, the House position prevailed in conference, and the bill in final form included no rent supplement appropriation. Therefore, the rent supplement program cannot become operative pending appropriation of implementing funds.

2. EXPANSION OF PUBLIC HOUSING

Section 503 further amends the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 to increase the authorization for annual contribution contracts to provide for an estimated 60,000 additional public housing units for each of the next 4 fiscal years. This authorization includes new construction, purchase and rehabilitation of existing housing, and leasing of existing housing from private owners for occupancy of low-income families. On the basis of recent experience, it may be expected that as much as half of the new public housing authorized will be devoted to housing for the low-income elderly.