AARP WV Leaders Visit Capitol Hill, Urge Congress To Push For New Retirement Advice Standard

AARP staff and volunteers from West Virginia and across the nation converged in Washington April 19 to deliver petitions containing more than 26,000 signatures at the U.S. Department of Labor in support of a conflict of interest standard, following the release of a proposed rule in early April. The petition delivery kicked off several days of AARP activity in the Nation’s Capital.

In addition to bringing petitions to the U.S. Department of Labor, AARP volunteers continue to speak to members of Congress about AARP’s opposition to any legislation that seeks to stop or slow a proposed rule requiring all retirement advisers to give advice in their clients’ best interest.  Each year hidden fees, unfair risk and bad investment advice rob Americans of $17 billion of retirement. The Department of Labor has opened up the public comment period for the proposed rule regarding Financial Conflicts of Interest. You can make your voice heard by submitting comment online here.

AARP West Virginia State President Rich Stonestreet and State Director Gaylene Miller visited  Capitol Hill and met with  Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Members of the U.S. House of Representatives David McKinley (R-WV), Alex Mooney (R-WV), and Evan Jenkins (R-WV) to discuss a variety of issues crucial to older West Virginians that include eliminating conflicts of interest in retirement advice, the Older Americans Act, the Safe Streets Act, the bipartisan Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus, and Social Security Trust Fund solvency.

“AARP volunteers and staff from across the nation came to Washington to ask Congress and the White House to address a variety of issues including laws that protect and enhance health and economic security,” said Rich Stonestreet, AARP West Virginia State President. “We also thanked those who helped to pass a ‘doc fix’ law that allows Medicare beneficiaries to keep seeing their physicians.”

In addition to Financial Conflicts of Interest, the issues that AARP West Virginia leaders discussed with West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation included:

• The Older Americans Act (S.192): The reauthorization of the bipartisan Older Americans Act would help ensure the continued array of programs and services to assist, protect, nourish and sustain the nation’s seniors with maximum dignity and independence. Since 2010, AARP has consistently supported and urged a simple reauthorization to protect the core programs of this crucial law.
• The Safe Streets Act: The bipartisan Safe Streets Act would ensure that planners and traffic engineers design, construct, and operate roads with the safety of all users in mind by directing states and metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to create a "safe streets" policy within two years of enactment. The policy would be different for each locality based on their individual communities.
• Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus: AARP backed the formation of the bipartisan, bicameral caucus as a forum to engage those in the House and Senate on family caregiving and living independently, exchange ideas, and build bipartisan relationships that can lead to solutions. Volunteers will seek to expand this important caucus. The caucus was launched in March of this year by U.S. Sens. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) and U.S. Reps. Diane Black (R-TN) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM).
• Social Security: If Congress does not address the shortfall in the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust fund, children, veterans, older workers, families and others who receive disability insurance benefits may face a 20% cut in their benefits. AARP seeks a reallocation of the trust funds with improved program integrity measures.

 

“We had very productive discussions with members of West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation and their staffs on these critical health, safety and economic issues that impact thousands of West Virginia families and millions of Americans,” said Gaylene Miller, AARP West Virginia State Director, who discussed the visits during an April 30 appearance on WV MetroNews' Talkline program.