There’s been an update in the frozen funds for the senior work-based employment training program.
The Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved the FY 2026 Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations Bill.
In it, there is a cut out for $395-million for the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). That’s a decrease of about $10-million from FY 2025, but still a step in the right direction according to The Legacy Link’s SCSEP Director Christine Osasu.
“We are excited about the Senate approved funding,” Osasu said. “To be clear, that doesn’t change our current situation.”
The current situation is dire for many low-income seniors according to Osasu, who detailed a specific example of a Hall County senior having to go live in a tent due to the funding being frozen for 46 days as of the writing of this article, laying off approximately 30,000 seniors nationwide.
“I called the gentleman and said ‘hey, your letter came back, what’s your proper mailing address?’ and his response was something that I wasn’t expecting at all,” Osasu said. “He told me that he wishes he had a mailing address, but unfortunately now he is living in a tent in Hall County.”
Although the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the funding, it still has to get approved and go to the House Appropriations Committee.
That committee has a familiar face to northeast Georgia on it: U.S. Rep. for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District Andrew Clyde.
In a statement to AccessWDUN, Clyde said: “The American people gave President Trump a historic mandate to get our country back on track — a mission that includes shrinking the size, scope, and cost of government. As part of this critical goal, the Trump Administration has continued conducting temporary funding freezes to review taxpayer-funded programs. This effort simply aims to ensure our hard-earned tax dollars are not spent on duplicative programs, wasteful unauthorized initiatives, or harmful agendas. While the House’s FY26 appropriations bill that involves the SCSEP has not been released yet, my House Appropriations Committee colleagues and I will review this funding as part of the ongoing appropriations process.”
This comes as the Trump Administration’s most recent budget zeroed out the funding for the SCSEP. In the brief description of the program, the administration wrote “SCSEP purports to provide job training and subsidized employment to low-income seniors, but fails at its goal: to move seniors to unsubsidized, gainful employment. In reality, it is effectively an earmark to leftist, DEI-promoting entities like the National Urban League, the Center for Workforce Inclusion, and Easter Seals.”
The SCSEP was created in 1965 as part of the Older Americans Act and is a work-based employment training program for low-income seniors. Osasu said there is a mandate to uphold that act.
“We need to continue to educate. We have a mandate under the Older Americans Act to advocate on behalf of seniors to be their voice in policy positions,” Osasu said. “Our program is so critical, because with seniors, they have a different need. It’s building self-sufficiency in our community.”
AccessWDUN previously reported that the program costs roughly $400-million to run annually. That costs each taxpayer roughly $2.45 per year to run.
“This is not a program that’s just eating money or wasting money. The vast majority of these program funds go directly to pay wages,” Osasu said. “Do you want to see 40,000 people homeless, roaming around the street because they can’t afford their housing? That to me sounds like a higher level public crisis than funding needed programs.”
AccessWDUN also previously spoke to a Cartersville resident who was a part of the program, Eloise Jackson. Jackson said she was getting paid minimum wage after working her whole life due to medical bills that were piling up. She said she was not complaining about the minimum wage because it was a “lifesaver” that allowed her to get by.
“When you hear me speak, don’t see me. See your mother, see your aunt, see great-grandmother, see your sisters, see your children,” Jackson said. “There are seniors … that are in even worse shape than myself and we seniors need help.”
“So many people have no safety net, this SCSEP was their last stand,” Osasu said. “It was their last little piece of hope, their last piece of security.”
U.S. Senator for Georgia Raphael Warnock is on the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, and he was a part of a letter last month by Democratic lawmakers to U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer regarding the program.
"Freezing this jobs program is another cruel blow from this administration to older Georgians who still want to work, contribute, and live with dignity," Warnock said in a July 23 statement to AccessWDUN. "In places like North Georgia, this program is a lifeline helping seniors reenter the workforce, stay active in their communities, and make ends meet. I will continue demanding this administration ensure Georgians can access the employment resources they need."
Osasu said her final thought to the legislators would be that seniors becoming homeless due to a bureaucratic delay is unnecessary.
“No matter how you approach this issue, if you approach it from cost, if you approach it from morality, if you approach it as societal duties of government … you always arrive at the same outcome,” Osasu said. “Every single day that goes by without funding, seniors are literally becoming homeless, and it didn’t have to happen, and it’s wholly unnecessary.”
