Senate special aging committee. This is an hour and a half. Good afternoon. It is my great pleasure to call to order the very first hearing of the Senate Special committee on aging. In the 114th congress i have had the honor of being a member of this committee since my very first days in the United States senate and i am delighted to now assume the chairmanship. This is the first time that a maine senator has chaired the committee since the mid1990s when my predecessor and good friend senator bill cohen for whom i worked for 12 years served as the committees chair. Im also pleased to welcome new and returning members to this committee and onto about delighted that my good friend and colleague senator Claire Mccaskill of missouri will service the committees Ranking Member. Senator bill nelson, the former committee chairman, has also chosen to remain a member of this committee and he will continue to share his expertise with us. Throughout its history, the aging committee has spurred con
Brightest of cuba are found and apprehended and thrown into prison. Theres no open internet there. There arent any dictators in the world. China has written a book on how a dictatorship can control the internet with the great firewall of china and we have the situation that will replicate itself bigtime. Finally he would say this testimony from these unbelievably brave women and men who have suffered at the hands of castro helped steer off the veil of secrecy and an open secret if you will. Its been out there but thankfully its through cspan and maybe thats here and congressmen and women who will see this record you are bearing truth and bearing witness to a very ugly reality that is pervasive. Again i do believe the legitimacy that castro craves and i believe just got a helping hand thats not just might be. The Washington Post and others have aligned on that in their editorials. This was not the time to take that view. They shouldve been an effort to say human rights first. As you sai
With the clients financial records which aps must have to substantiate substantiate. Are permed under statutory acceptance to prevent fraud and authorized investigation. A revised federal guidance clarifying the client records may be shared with aps in a timely manner would mean Financial Abuse could be stopped much earlier. I believe financial snugs would welcome this clarification. Secondly, Financial Institutions should be granted authority to temporarily freeze accounts when theres evidence the owner is being defrauded, for example, sending money to a jamaican lottery scam in time to contact affirm ps or take other measures. I hope this committee and congress will look at their own decades of research into elder abuse, some of which are on evidence here. This is a partial stack of all the many reports from the many, many hearings that go back almost five decades now, will would at own research in elder abuse to stop and prevent incidents can be reduced as they have for other victim
Financial advisor. Financial exploitation of Older Americans is a growing epidemic that cost seniors an estimated twopoint 9 billion in 2010 according to the gao. In maine a long there are 14,000 new reports each year of senior abuse which includes financial exploitation and in as many as 90 of financial cases the seniors victimized by someone he or she knows well. Many of these cases the victim is too ashamed to report financial exploitation particularly when it involves a Family Member. As a consequence the true incidence of this kind of abuse is not known. Identifying victims of financial exploitation in my state is particularly difficult because we take a lot of pride in our selfsufficiency. Its difficult for many seniors to ask for help. In addition since victims who have had their assets stolen by Family Members typically do not want their relatives to be criminally prosecuted, the stolen money is rarely recovered. Combating Financial Abuse of seniors is primarily the responsibil
Taking some concrete steps to strengthen the relationship between Law Enforcement and communities of color and i intend to take more steps with leaders like him in the months ahead. Well take a closer look at those protests and at the new apology from the Police Officer who wasnt indicted in just a couple of minutes. And some disturbing news were following overseas. An al qaeda affiliate threatening to kill an american hostage within three days if their demands arent met by the u. S. Government. The video released on youtube shows luke somers a british born but American Photo journalist captured in yemen last year. Just last month the Operation Mission to free yemen failed. Over in abu dhabi the suspect of an american schoolteacher. The woman covered in black there is a national in her late 30s. She is now in custody. No name has been released. She is seen fleeing the maul bathroom. Ryan was a kindergarten teacher. She moved to abu dhabi with her twin sons late last year. The state Dep