Cassidy, colleagues want bill to protect seniors included in pandemic relief package

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) led a bipartisan contingent of his colleagues in urging their chamber’s leadership to include bipartisan legislation that would protect America’s senior citizens from an increased number of financial scams during the COVID-19 pandemic in a forthcoming relief package.

“Scammers view the pandemic as an opportunity to exploit anxiety over this public health crisis and particularly target seniors who are physically separated from their support networks,” Sen. Cassidy and his fellow lawmakers wrote in an Aug. 10 letter sent to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

“We need to protect seniors who are especially vulnerable to fraud and abuse by bad actors, and protect the retirement savings they worked so hard over a lifetime to build,” wrote Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues, who included U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

Specifically, the senators want the Edith Shorougian Senior Victims of Fraud Compensation Act, S. 3487 / H.R. 7620, included in the next federal funding relief package currently under debate in Congress.

Sens. Cassidy and Baldwin on March 12 introduced S. 3487 while U.S. Reps. Peter King (R-NY) and Suzanne Bonamici (D-MI) on July 16 introduced the same-named H.R. 7620 in their chamber.

If enacted, the bill would incentivize states to pay back senior victims of fraud through the Crime Victims Fund established by the U.S. Department of Justice, which is financed through fines and penalties on federal criminal convictions, not from tax dollars, according to Sen. Cassidy’s office. 

Part of the legislation was included in the HEROES Act that in May passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues want the full legislation included in the final pandemic relief package, his office said.

“It is critical that the entirety of the legislation, both the provision to add senior fraud as an eligible item and the provision to supplement the Crime Victims Fund, be included in COVID-19 relief legislation,” wrote Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues. “Congress should ensure that state victim compensation programs have the opportunity to be reimbursed by the Crime Victims Fund when they compensate victims of senior fraud.”