Elder Abuse Protection Act of 2021

Floor Speech

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Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bipartisan Elder Abuse Protection Act.

I proudly sponsored this legislation because, quite frankly, back in the day, when I was a geriatric social worker, I saw firsthand the abuse targeted against our seniors as consumers.

This bill will help ensure that our seniors today, the group that most disproportionately was impacted by COVID-19, are not continuing as targets of fraudulent crimes. I thank Representative Spartz for joining me in this legislation.

This March, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crime Complaint Center released its 2020 internet crime report, noting it received 105,301 complaints--over 100,000 complaints--from victims over the age of 60.

That was a whopping 54 percent increase from the 2019 numbers of 68,000 complaints. If you look at the cost and value of these complaints, it was $966 million, an approximate 15 percent increase from the 2019 number of $835 million.

What is worse, Mr. Speaker, is that these statistics reflect only those complaints in which the victim voluntarily provided their age range as over 60. So there may be even more.

Victims over the age of 60 are targeted by perpetrators because they are believed to have significant reliable financial resources.

The evidence is clear, as the United States ages, diversifies, and modernizes, the number of older adults experiencing elder abuse is, unfortunately, also projected to increase.

Elder abuse assessment measures and interventions are critical. This intervention is even more urgent for Latinos in our country who lack access to resources and information in their preferred language.

In 2017, the United States Department of Health and Human Services estimated that the Latino population in the United States age 65 and over was over 4 million people. By 2060, the Department projects the population of elderly Latinos in America to grow to 19.9 million, or 21 percent of the overall American elderly population. That is a huge number and growing.

Given these rapid growth rates and projected increases, public online resources should be made available to Americans with limited English proficiency. Providing Spanish language resources to the public will therefore reach an underserved population and will provide an important resource to millions of residents in the United States of America, especially to my home State of Texas.

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Ms. GARCIA of Texas. Unfortunately, due to the quarantine measures and limitations on visiting facilities and nursing homes, it has made it easier for abuse, neglect, and fraud to go undetected.

That is why this important legislation makes permanent a National Elder Fraud Hotline and requires the Elder Justice Coordinator to consult with the Office of Tribal Justice and designees on legal aid issues.

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina.

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