The Senate’s Special Committee on Aging has never been the most sought-after assignment.
The typically sleepy panel hasn’t historically met as frequently as other committees. Major pieces of legislation statutorily can’t start in Aging. The hearings that Aging has held in recent years — “Guardianship and Alternatives,” “Stopping Senior Scams,” and “Assisted Living Facilities: Understanding Long-Term Care Options for Older Adults” — have been about as controversial as the one markup that the Joint Committee on Printing holds every Congress, an organizational meeting adopting rules for the panel.
But for Sen. Rick Scott, the Aging Committee’s new chairman, his panel now has an opportunity to go after some of the most politically sensitive issues in Congress, like ending inflation, achieving “fiscal sanity,” and addressing Social Security with renewed enthusiasm.