42 U.S.C. § 3057b: Findings

are a rapidly increasing population; suffer from high unemployment; live in poverty at a rate estimated to be as high as 61 percent; have a life expectancy between 3 and 4 years less than the general population; lack sufficient nursing homes, other long-term care facilities, and other health care facilities; lack sufficient Indian area agencies on aging; frequently live in substandard and over-crowded housing; receive less than adequate health care; are served under this subchapter at a rate of less than 19 percent of the total national population of older individuals who are Indians living on Indian reservations; and are served under subchapter III at a rate of less than 1 percent of the total participants under that subchapter. The Commissioner on Aging [now Assistant Secretary for Aging] shall establish a permanent interagency task force that is representative of departments and agencies of the Federal Government with an interest in older Indians and their welfare, and is designed to make recommendations with respect to facilitating the coordination of services and the improvement of services to older Indians. The task force shall be chaired by the Associate Commissioner on [now Director of the Office for] American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian Aging and shall submit its findings and recommendations to the Commissioner at 6-month intervals beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act [ Nov. 29, 1987 ]. Such findings and recommendations shall be included in the annual report required by section 207(a) of the Older Americans Act of 1965 [ 42 U.S.C. 3018(a) ] to be submitted by the Commissioner.”