Political Quotes

“I have fought for years to protect our Nation's seniors from abuse and exploitation--initially, as former Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, former Chairman of Senate Finance Committee, and more recently, as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two weeks ago, I chaired a Judiciary Committee hearing on Protecting Older Americans from Financial Exploitation. At the hearing, we heard about numerous scams in which seniors were targeted time after time, resulting in their being defrauded, often with devastating consequences. We also heard that many older Americans don't report instances of elder abuse or exploitation due to embarrassment, a refusal to acknowledge that they were victimized, or reliance on the perpetrator as their caretaker. Sadly, these accounts of elder abuse are nothing new. What has changed is that the scams targeting seniors are becoming increasingly sophisticated. That is one of the reasons why elder financial exploitation has been dubbed ``the crime of the 21st century.'' I have made it a top priority to get the federal government to step up its efforts to fight the abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of our Nation's seniors. To this end, I recently called on the Justice Department to outline its efforts to prevent and respond to instances of elder abuse.…”