The Older Americans Act is the primary federal statute for the delivery of social and nutrition services for older people.  

According to Becky Preve, executive director for the Association on Aging in New York, because of federal layoffs, the act is no longer fulfilling its mission. 

Cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services are hitting senior services like Meals on Wheels, which the Older Americans Act authorizes funding for through an agency called the Administration for Community Living (ACL).  

ACL funds programs that distribute 216 million meals a year to older and disabled people through the Meals on Wheels program. Seventy-thousand New York seniors receive meals through the program. 

Last week, HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that 10,000 full-time employees would be cut, on top of the thousands of workers who have already left. Forty percent of staff at the “Administration for Community Living” received layoff notices, according to NPR.  

Other areas affected by the layoffs include the Division of Energy Assistance, which runs the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program or LIHEAP.