Hearings, Reports and Prints of the Senate Special Committee on Aging

The committee met at 3:35 p.m., pursuant to notice, in the United Methodist Church, First Avenue and Third Street NW., Rockford, Iowa, Hon. Dick Clark presiding.

Present: Senator Clark and Representative Charles E. Grassley.

Also present: Deborah K. Kilmer, professional staff member; David Harf, legislative assistant to Senator Clark; Margaret S. Fayé, minority professional staff member; and Donna Gluck, resource assistant. OPENING STATEMENT BY SENATOR DICK CLARK, PRESIDING

Senator CLARK. Thank you very, very much. I really appreciate those of you waiting so very long for us. I apologize.

We have had five such hearings. This is the sixth of six hearings. that we are holding in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.

I am afraid I got a little ambitious. I wanted to ride on one of these minibuses from Sioux Falls to Canton, so I did. I thought I could get down there and back to the Sioux Falls airport, but we didn't get to the airport until about 2 o'clock and you were waiting here at 2:30. Although the plane is pretty fast, by the time we got across Sioux City we were later than planned.

I sincerely apologize for being this late. As a reward, I am going to save you a speech. Instead, what I want to do is just tell you in about 60 seconds what the purpose of these hearings is and then ask Congressman Grassley if he would like to make a statement. We will then go right on with the first panel. In fact, while I am speaking, I wish the first panel would come on up and have seats here. I know John Beer, Paul Schroge, Mr. and Mrs. Judd and, I think, Harry Empting are here. Please come on up here while we are visiting.

We are very pleased to be here in Rockford. These are, of course, official hearings of the Senate Committee on Aging. Our professional staff is here at the table and all of the information is being recorded on a tape here by a stenographer.

"FAIR SHARE OF SERVICES"

The purpose of these hearings, incidentally, is to try to find out what we ought to be doing in Government, uniquely for rural elderly people. Many of the Federal programs that have been developed over the years for the elderly, as well as others, have been primarily for the

purpose of metropolitan areas and, as is so often the case, people who live in the countryside, or people who live in small towns have not necessarily gotten their fair share of these services.

Now increasingly over the last few years we have been able to extend some programs, particularly congregate meals programs, some of the minibus programs, and so forth, into some of the smaller towns. We have a very long way to go, and that is what this hearing is all about; what kind of transportation needs we have, what kind of nutrition needs, what kind of health care needs, employment, and so forth.

Today our two panels are going to be emphasizing senior multipurpose centers, and then the second panel is going to be talking about housing. Again, housing and senior centers in small towns-that is the whole emphasis of the hearing, so we are delighted to have you here. I would like at this time to give the microphone to Congressman Charles Grassley.

STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF IOWA

Representative GRASSLEY. Thank you, Senator Clark. It is good to be here with you.

A year ago the Select Committee on Aging of the House of Representatives held hearings in the third district, so I know that I met some of you at that point. We discussed some of the same problems that Senator Clark is interested in hearing from your testimony.

I am not going to read my opening remarks. I am going to submit them for the record, Senator, if I may have permission to do that. Senator CLARK. Yes.

Representative GRASSLEY. I had eight pages of remarks and they will be made part of the record, so if you have the record sent to you after it is printed you will be able to read them at that time.

I told you, Senator, I would have to leave for an appointment. I have to be there by 4 o'clock, so I will be leaving all of you. The gist of what I was going to say, Senator, revolves around the point that Congress, I think, basically has made a good start on programs for the elderly. I find, however, from oversight hearings held in the House Committee on Aging, that congressional intent has not been carried out as much as it should be. I will use just one example.

ADMINISTRATIVE REDTAPE

The point of my off-the-cuff remarks here is that I think that we have to alert the senior citizens in our district, in our State, and particularly their advocates that there are plenty of good programs on the books that are not being adequately made use of by them. Some of this is due to the administrative redtape in Washington. No. 1 is the combination of section 8 under Housing and Urban Development and section 515 under the Farm Administration.

Two years ago Congress mandated that those programs ought to work in tandem. We were just forever and ever trying to get the administrative redtape worked out and getting the necessary agreements signed so that that very good program could actually be doing some

thing for people in need, particularly in the rural areas. I look at section 209 of the program. My remarks speak to that program as it is supposed to encourage better use of 202 funds. That is another example of a program where we have to work to make sure that the administrative machinery works as we had intended.

I am sure Senator Clark wants to hear your ideas, and of course I do, about new things that need to be done. We also want your thoughts for the record on how you think existing programs could be better administered, particularly as the bureaucracy in Washington is slow in sending down directives to the people at the lower levels of Government.

Senator Clark, I thank you for the opportunity to participate in this program and I will be looking forward to reading the record. [The prepared statement follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT BY REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES GRASSLEY Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, as a member of both the Select Committee on Aging in the House, and the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development of the House Banking Committee, today's hearings are of particular interest to me. Just last year, the select committee held hearings in Iowa, and the trend of the testimony pertaining to housing for senior citizens was very interesting and enlightening. It became abundantly clear senior citizens prefer to live out their lives in familiar surroundings, if at all possible, and without constantly moving about. In other words, they prefer to live in their own homes as long as they possibly can, and as independently as is possible.

As a representative of over 60,000 senior citizens, I feel it is my responsibility to assist those who want to stay in their own homes to do just that. Clearly, there are a number of ways in which legislators can be helpful in this respect. For example, programs already exist to assist older persons, via low-interest loans and grants to keep up their residences, and to insulate homes in order to keep utility bills under control. Less directly, but of equal importance, is our ability as legislators to keep down the rate of inflation, to eliminate laws which restrict the amount of income older persons can earn due to their receiving social security, and to minimize the estate tax burden on an elderly heir is crucial to assuring that the older person has enough funds to keep up his or her home. Last, but not least, the provision of social services, and companionship, through the establishment of multipurpose senior centers could well prevent many older persons who might need some sort of outside assistance from having to move into a more care-intensive surrounding.

Of course, some senior citizens, of their own choice or due to necessity (financial or physical), may seek shelter outside their own homes. Various Federal programs exist to assist many of these in finding suitable homes at a reasonable cost. I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to assure that such housing meets the variety of needs that an older person can be expected to face, in as efficient and economical manner as is possible.

Various Federal housing efforts are designed to meet this objective, though it is not clear that the objective is being met. For instance, there is a section of a Federal housing program administered by HUD which instructs the Secretary to consult with the Secretary of HEW in order to insure that housing projects are designed in conjunction with federally funded social service programs, administered through State plans for the elderly. The purpose of this section is not only to insure the coordinated delivery of housing and social services to residents of the federally backed project itself, but also to insure community participation in such services. I have recently written the Secretaries of the two Departments to determine what progress has been made toward meeting the requirements of this section, and feel that Congress must take the lead in seeing that its objectives are met.

ADDITIONAL HOUSING FOR LOW INCOME

Much work remains to be done, although some successes have already been realized. For instance, in June the Departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development reached an agreement which should result in additional

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