Rep. Guthrie hosts roundtable with local senior citizen groups
BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- Rep. Brett Guthrie hosted a senior citizen roundtable Monday afternoon to hear from members of local senior citizens groups on the needs of the aging community and how Congress can support seniors.
Multiple different agencies that work to help older people were in attendance to voice their concerns and discuss how Congress can help them do their jobs better and more efficiently.
Michelle Hines, director of area agency on aging in the barren river area development district, said, “It’s awesome that he would come down and just listen to some of the challenges that we face in the Barren River Area Development district.”
Rep. Brett Guthrie specifically focused on two bills and how those bills are affecting local community action agencies.
Congressman Guthrie said, “These two laws that we are talking about today or proposed updates to the law specifically deal with seniors because they are specific to seniors. You know, people get older, they retire their income gets frozen at their retirement level; expenses can go up. We heard a lot today about prescription drugs.”
The Older Americans Act, which funds services that benefit older adults like meals, transportation, and health promotion, will come to an end on September 30th.
Attendees voiced concern about funds decreasing when many baby boomers are now at retirement age.
Another issue that was brought up was the rising price of insulin.
The Congressman said the drug is 100 years old and has not changed much in the past 30 years but has skyrocketed in price.
The main concern of most attendees was the need for funding to provide meals and transportation to seniors in south central Kentucky.
Rep. Guthrie also touched on some hot button issues in the government after the meeting.
Guthrie commented on President Trump’s recent tweets geared toward four Congresswomen of color, saying he doesn’t think the tweets were racist and that everyone should just treat each other with respect.
