Rose, Casten Bipartisan Resolution to Support Combating Financial Exploitation of Seniors Passes House

Statement

U.S. Representatives John Rose (TN-06) and Sean Casten (IL-06) won House passage today of H. Res. 328, their bill to support combating the financial exploitation of seniors. Older Americans are increasingly targeted for financial scams and it is estimated that older Americans lose more than $36 billion every year to scams. Rose spoke on the House Floor in support of the resolution, which passed the House overwhelmingly with 411 votes of support.

Rose stated, "Age brings many of life's most difficult challenges, but financial exploitation should not be one of them. To ignore this injustice would be a gross disservice to families across Tennessee's Sixth District and a disappointment to those we represent across America. It is time to empower community partnerships and law enforcement in their work to safeguard seniors against deception and scams which threaten their stability and security daily. I extend my appreciation to Rep. Casten for his bipartisan leadership on this bill, which is important to families across the country."

Casten said, in part, "America's seniors have worked hard to raise families, pay their taxes, protect our country and build our communities. Many have scraped and saved to ensure their financial futures…Expanding financial literacy can help seniors stay secure and independent longer. To combat this serious financial concern and to assist the senior community, this education extends to financial institutions, law enforcement, and regulatory agencies…I want to thank Rep. Rose for working on this resolution with me in a bipartisan manner and for his commitment to seniors and financial literacy."

This bipartisan resolution will:
* Support the goals of Financial Literacy Month to raise public awareness about the
importance of personal financial education in the United States; and the serious
consequences that may result from a lack of understanding about personal finances;
* Acknowledge that raising awareness of threats to personal finances, especially for
populations like older adults and their relatives and caregivers, is only one part of financial
literacy;
* Understand that to combat Elder Financial Exploitation, it is also necessary to encourage
continued collaboration among law enforcement, financial institutions, regulatory agencies,
and private sector organizations allowing detection, prevention, reporting, and
investigation of these crimes;
* Support work being done by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and its
partners to educate the stakeholders that serve and protect America's elder community;
* Urge continued public-private partnership and appropriate information sharing to prevent,
detect, report, and investigate Elder Financial Exploitation; and
* Urge action to assist with remediation and reporting, as well as prevention and detection to
have the best possible data, feedback, and incident response.

Source