Statement
of
Alan
G. Lopatin
Washington
Representative, National Senior Corps Association
March
11, 2014
It is with sadness that I appear on behalf of the
National Senior Corps Association and the more than 300,000 older Americans who
serve in organized Senior Corps programs to share our deep disappointment over
the Administration’s proposal to first cut and then eliminate RSVP, the Senior
Companion Program, and the Foster Grandparent Program.
At a time when experts and nonexperts agree that the
health care and annuity costs associated with the retirement of Baby Boomers
could bankrupt the country, why in heaven’s name would this Administration seek
to curtail the one organized opportunity for seniors to give back to their
communities? As a member of the
Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, I sit as one of small handful of
“givers” in a room that reflects more the needs of an aging population. The proposal for cuts and changes in the Senior
Corps in this environment is a really dumb idea.
It is difficult to sum up the demise of over 40
years of senior service in two minutes, but efficiency has been the watchword
of Senior Corps.
NSCA strongly opposes the move of RSVP funds to the
Volunteer Generation Fund (VGP) and elimination of 66% of that line item. Millions of Americans and thousands of local
non-profit organizations will lose services and non-profits will be left
without a viable resource to sustain services to the nation’s neediest
populations should this proposal be enacted by Congress.
In 2012, there were 296,000 RSVP volunteers, a
decrease of over 100,000 volunteers from the 2010 level of engagement when RSVP
was reduced by 20% overnight. By cutting
another 66%, RSVP will lose another 195,000 volunteers currently serving –
40,500,000 hours of service which will no longer be delivered through the
65,000 community organizations that collaborate with RSVP.
NSCA strongly opposes the transfer of FGP and SCP to
the AmeriCorps management and funding system, proposals to cut back on the
service commitment by those senior who serve under the new structure and, at
the same time, reducing funding for these opportunities for low-income seniors
to serve by over $20 million.
--
On a personal note, I spent over a decade working on
Capitol Hill for the House Budget Committee and the House Committee that wrote
the national service authorizing law.
And I have worked with the Senior Corps Directors for nearly 20
since. From my perspective, the
President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget for the Senior Corps sets a new standard
for budget and authorizing audacity – by boasting that this budget “proposes to
support a record 114,000 AmeriCorps members” (while conveniently glossing over
the accounting gimmick of transferring 30,000 Senior Corps volunteers to
AmeriCorps) and highlighting the fact that the transfer will “allow AmeriCorps to
surpass the goal of reserving at least 10 percent of member positions for
seniors, as laid out in the 2009 Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act” – a
provision intended to EXPAND senior opportunities, not contract them.
And, to get even more personal, when I read the
budget, I really had to wonder, “was this meant in spite?” In May, I will celebrate the third
anniversary of my 55th birthday.
Was this budget intended to deny me the chance to serve as a Senior
Corps member?
Thank you for this opportunity and, in advance, for
continued opportunities to serve.
