When the Department of Labor pauses, 20,000 seniors pay the price

This last week was not one of celebration for me, but of heartbreak.

While others celebrated the Fourth of July with fireworks and family gatherings, I was forced to furlough more than 800 low-income older adults from a program that offers them purpose, community and the ability to survive.

Many of these elders are immigrants — Americans who have spent their lives working, raising families and contributing to our country in every conceivable way. Now, in their later years, they ask for so little: a modest opportunity to stay active, stay connected and make ends meet.

At the heart of this crisis is a senseless delay in the release of federal funding for a vital employment training program. Through the Senior Community Service Employment Program, the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging places low-income older adults into part-time community service roles that provide on the job training.

These roles — whether in libraries, food banks, senior centers or public schools — offer more than just modest income. They offer connection, routine, dignity and a sense of meaning for people who too often feel discarded by society once they pass a certain age.

But when the funding pause hit, everything stopped. Suddenly, our elders — some as old as 79 — were without income. These are individuals who make less than $1,200 a month and continue to work because they simply have no other choice. Social Security isn’t enough. Their savings, if they had any, are long gone. Rent, food, medicine — these costs don’t pause just because Washington does.

When participants asked, “How long will this furlough last?” I had no answer to give. I couldn’t say if it would be days or weeks. All I could say was that we are fighting for them. But all we hear from the decision-makers is the same vague word: “Soon.”

But “soon” doesn’t fill a fridge. “Soon” doesn’t cover the rent. “Soon” doesn’t ease the panic of an 80-year-old who doesn’t know how they’ll get through the month.

This is not just a National Asian Pacific Center on Aging problem. Our 800 elders join nearly 20,000 older workers across the country — many in other minority and rural communities — who were also furloughed on July 1 when the funding failed to arrive on time. This is not about politics or policy differences. It is about a lapse in administration that has real, painful, human consequences.

I’ve spent much of my life advocating for our elders — those whose stories echo the journey of my own parents, who came to this country in search of opportunity and worked tirelessly to build a better future for their families. These seniors are the living embodiment of the American Dream. They endured war, poverty, discrimination and dislocation. They cleaned our hospitals, cared for our children, cooked in our restaurants, and built lives one humble job at a time. Now, they ask for so little — just a chance to contribute and survive.

But this week, my heart aches. I feel powerless watching people I care deeply about struggle, not because they failed, but because the system failed them. I pray this delay is resolved in days, not weeks. I pray that next week brings good news, not another hollow “soon.”

If we cannot protect the most vulnerable among us, especially those who have spent their lives protecting and serving others, then we have lost something fundamental about who we are.

The Department of Labor should act now to restore the funding, and affirm the simple promise that America takes care of its own — especially the ones who took care of us.

Clayton Fong is president and CEO of the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging.