The White House released and sent to Congress its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget summary on March 11, accompanied by a series of fact sheets. The President’s budget is never enacted as is by Congress, but it is considered a good indication of the Administration’s vision and policy direction/priorities. Because of strict budget caps imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, the Administration’s budget balances mostly level funding with proposals for new initiatives.

In the coming days, LeadingAge will more deeply assess the request’s proposals. Some relevant highlights include:

Aging Services Continuum

Several provisions in the budget indicate support for the aging services sector. These include key LeadingAge priorities, like increased funding for workforce initiatives and expanded affordable housing options for older adults. In addition, the proposed budget extends the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund by leveraging likely savings through recent Medicare drug reforms and closing several tax loopholes. The budget also invests in Social Security Administration technology to improve and streamline customer service. Notably, the budget proposes continuity funds for the Affordable Connectivity Program, which will sunset as early as May 2024 without urgent investment.

Housing

Overall, the President proposed relatively flat funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) but included a number of bold initiatives for housing affordability and access, including for older adults. Like in Fiscal Year 2024, the President proposed guaranteed Housing Choice Vouchers for certain populations and is seeking the first new project-based rental assistance contracts in decades, designed to serve extremely low-income households. Newly this year, the President is proposing to establish a $20 billion “innovation fund” that would help invest in new multifamily housing development, as well as a new tax credit for first time homebuyers and grants to help local efforts on eviction prevention. The proposal also renews existing project-based Section 8 and Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly contracts, seeks renewal funding for Service Coordinators, and requests supplemental funding to preserve Section 202 units undergoing conversion through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). Missing from the proposal is significant new investment in Section 202 and Service Coordination.

Home and Community-Based Services

The President’s budget includes an ongoing commitment to expanding home and community-based services by proposing an $150 billion investment over 10 years with specific mention of improving the quality of jobs for home care workers. We are pleased that the President is continuing his commitment to expanding access to these vital services which include home care, assisted living, adult day, and other vital services that allow those who choose to remain in the community. This proposal mirrors the Better Care Better Jobs Act (S. 100 / H.R. 547) that was reintroduced in Congress last year.

Nursing Homes

The President requests $492 million for the discretionary CMS Survey and Certification Program in 2025. It further proposes to shift funding for nursing home surveys from discretionary to mandatory funding beginning in 2026 and increase funding to cover 100 percent of statutorily-mandated surveys. Making this change from discretionary to mandatory funding for the state survey and certification program would require legislative action from Congress, as it would remove Congress from the annual appropriations process. The budget summary also noted a comprehensive agenda that “improves the safety and quality of nursing home care; addresses the backlog of complaint surveys from nursing home residents; expands financial penalties for underperforming facilities; requires greater transparency of nursing facility ownership; and increases the inspection of facilities with serious safety deficiencies.”

Workforce

The proposed budget includes $7 billion to states to support the Classroom to Careers program to provide up to 12 transferable career connected credits to high school students participating in dual high school and college programs. The President called for an $8 billion mandatory Career Training Fund along with a $50 million investment to support the development and expansion of public-private partnerships among employers, education, and training providers to deliver evidence-based, high-quality training while expanding access to registered apprenticeship programs. The budget proposal also contains $320 million for nursing workforce programs and $10 million for a new Health Care Workforce Innovation Program to jumpstart strategies to grow the healthcare workforce and address healthcare workforce shortages across disciplines such as physicians, nursing, and behavioral health.

Immigration

The President affirms his commitment to supporting and welcoming 125,000 asylees annually and proposes $145 million to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to support to support their resettlement.

Department of Labor

The Budget proposes to establish a national, comprehensive paid family and medical leave program administered by the Social Security Administration to ensure that all workers can take up to 12 weeks of leave to bond with a new child; care for a seriously ill loved one; heal from their own serious illness; address circumstances arising from a loved one’s military deployment; find safety from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. The Budget also invests in a program at Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau to help States expand access to paid leave benefits through grants and technical assistance hubs.

The fiscal year 2025 budget request is just the first move in a long and complex set of discussions and negotiations that will determine the actual budget for the federal government next fiscal year.

Further LeadingAge analysis is forthcoming.