Capitol Corner March 2020

Centralina Executive Director, Geraldine Gardner, and federal relations consultant, Leslie Mozingo, were in Washington DC on February 20th to meet with Congressional offices and federal agencies about Centralina’s 2020 Federal Action Agenda. Key points on the agenda were advocacy to House and Senate offices to vote in favor of H.R.4334 – Supporting Older Americans Act of 2020, which reauthorizes the Older Americans Act that provides critical funding to support programs and services offered by Area Agencies on Aging and local providers. The bill, which runs through 2024, was unanimously passed by the House and now heads to the White House for President Trump’s signature. We also expressed the need for Congress to take action to reauthorize the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, which is set to expire on September 30, 2020. We appreciate the time that the legislative directors and staff spent with us and for the ongoing support from Representative Ted Budd, Representative Dan Bishop, Representative Virginia Foxx, Representative Richard Hudson, Representative Alma Adams, Representative Patrick McHenry, Senator Thom Tillis and Senator Richard Burr. In addition to meetings on the Hill, we met with intergovernmental affairs directors at the US Department of Transportation and US Department of Agriculture to discuss grant opportunities that will benefit our region. Next month we will share insights from what learned at the National League of Cities and National Association of Counties meetings in DC and give a forecast of what to expect out of Washington for the remainder of the year.