Gumm Helps Negotiate Senior Nutrition Agreement
March 4th, 2010
OKLAHOMA CITY – Senator Jay Paul Gumm helped negotiate the agreement that will lead to funding for Oklahoma’s senior nutrition programs and allowed 2010 budget supplements to pass the Legislature.
The bipartisan agreement was struck Wednesday; the immediate effect was that furloughs were avoided in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Department of Corrections. The agreement also protects senior nutrition in the years ahead.
“Oklahoma won with this agreement,” said Gumm, a Democrat of Durant. “Those of us who stood for our seniors also believed the supplements should pass. However, we were unwilling to support an agreement that left behind a group of Oklahomans who deserved our consideration.
“If it had been one of the other groups getting supplemental funding, we would have stood for them as well. The agreement struck ensures the budget reflects our values and that all the stakeholders – including senior Oklahomans – have a seat at the table.”
According to the lawmaker, the agreement will move funding of the senior meal program from control of the state Department of Human Services. Gumm said this move was critical to the agreement because it will prevent future catastrophic cuts by bureaucrats.
It was such bureaucratic cuts that nearly destroyed the program over the last few months. More than 60,000 senior Oklahomans are fed through the nutrition program. Further, the agreement virtually guarantees senior nutrition will be “fairly funded” beginning July 1.
“Senior Oklahomans and their advocates told us clearly that funding for the fiscal year that starts July 1 was more important to the long-term health of the program than a stop-gap measure for the next four months,” Gumm said. “While we didn’t get immediate restoration of the funding, we got what was most important: a continued commitment to seniors.”
Gumm has been a passionate advocate for restoration of the funding. The battle began last October when the Department of Human Services cut the program by 30 percent when all other state services were only cut 5 percent.
While a number of communities had the resources to keep nutrition centers open on at least a limited basis, dozens others could not. The agreement preserves the ability of the program to feed seniors, to the tune of more than one million meals each year.
Seniors who receive the meals are usually unable to afford the food they need to survive or can no longer prepare their own meals. The meals are either delivered to homes or seniors gather at local senior meal centers to be fed, which also provides important opportunities for fellowship.
“Wednesday was a great day for Oklahoma,” he said. “It showed what can be achieved with both sides put aside partisan concerns and simply does what is right.”