September 21,2004

Baucus Applauds Committee Action on John Breaux Elder Justice Act

Senator Looking Forward to Consideration by Senate

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) The Senate Finance Committee favorably considered the John BreauxElder Justice Act of 2004 yesterday, voting to send it to the full Senate by a vote of 20 to 0.

Baucus said, “I am very pleased that the Finance Committee was so overwhelmingly insupport of this important legislation. It is high time for the federal government to dedicateattention and resources to stemming the problems of elder abuse, neglect and exploitation.”

The Breaux Act, renamed by Senator Baucus in honor of its sponsor, outgoing SenatorJohn Breaux (D-LA), is aimed at bringing the problems of elder mistreatment into specific reliefat the federal level for the first time. It would provide much needed resources to help the federalgovernment begin to understand the nature, scope and magnitude of elder mistreatment as a firststep toward ending the problem.

Baucus, a co-sponsor of the legislation, added that he now looked forward to workingwith his colleagues in the Senate to successfully pass the Breaux Act.