Press Release

SEATTLE—On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray visited National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) to celebrate the Lunar New Year with elders.

Elders gave Sen. Murray a standing ovation for her leadership in preventing significant cuts to the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), the only federal job training program for low-income older adults. They also presented Sen. Murray with a card signed by SCSEP trainees expressing their appreciation for her support of the program.

Last year, SCSEP was forced to pause for four months last year due to delayed funding.

Sen. Murray also secured $1M in funding for NAPCA’s award-winning multilingual Helpline, which provides information and enrollment support for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, caregiver, and long-term care services. Since 2004, the Helpline has answered over 350,000 calls and supported over 50,000 enrollments. The high-touch, multilingual support is especially critical to so many elders who face language and digital skills barriers in today’s online world of information.

“Navigating programs like SNAP, LIHEAP, Medicare, and Social Security is already more difficult than it should be and it can seem next to impossible for seniors whose first language isn’t English,” said Sen. Murray. “That’s why the work NAPCA does through the Helpline is so important—and it’s why I fought so hard to support that work in the funding bill we passed earlier this month. The Helpline can be the difference between having health care or being unable to fill a prescription next year. Between affording groceries or struggling to put dinner on the table. And this work is especially important at a time when we’ve seen Trump lead the federal government in the opposite direction—taking away non-English resources meant to help people access the programs they rely on. I am so glad I could secure $1 million to help NAPCA continue providing help to so many people, in so many languages. NAPCA can always count on me to be their proud partner in the other Washington, to fight for them and the families they serve.”

"We are deeply grateful for the dedication Sen. Murray and her team have to the issues facing our elders and families,” said Clayton Fong, NAPCA President and CEO. “For more than 30 years, we have trusted Sen. Murray to be our champion in Congress and advocate for our communities’ access to job training, skills building, and health care programs.”

NAPCA honored Sen. Murray for over three decades of unwavering support for AANHPI elders. A NAPCA Board Member presented the Senator with a Lifetime Champion Award.

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The National Asian Pacific Center on Aging (NAPCA) is dedicated to improving the quality of life for AANHPI older adults by advocating for their unique needs and ensuring access to culturally competent services.