April 30, 2019

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

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Sean Casten (IL-06) and John Rose (TN-06) won House passage today of H. Res. 328, their bill to support combatting 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. Casten spoke on the Floor in support of the Resolution earlier today.

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."

To watch Rep. Casten's Floor speech on H.Res. 328 click the image above or click here.

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.