Congresswoman Porter is committed to protecting the resources that help older adults age with dignity in Orange County.

Congresswoman Porter is a champion for Medicare and the health coverage that older Americans rely on. She introduced legislation to cap late Medicare enrollment penalties levied on seniors who defer enrollment in Medicare Part B. This bipartisan legislation would protect older Americans from unfair fees that follow them for years. Congresswoman Porter has also fought for lower drug costs for Medicare patients. She introduced the Freedom from Price Gouging Act, which would protect older Americans from price hikes by pharmaceutical companies trying to line their pockets. Her legislation passed the House of Representatives as part of the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act.

Congresswoman Porter has fought to make the tax code more fair for older Americans with high medical expenses. She was proud to lead bipartisan legislation to lower the threshold for deducting medical expenses from federal taxes, which become law in 2020. Without Congresswoman Porter’s efforts, 4.4 million families with high health care costs, who deduct medical expenses from their taxes, would have seen their taxes increase for 2020.  

Congresswoman Porter believes that Orange County seniors should be able to age with dignity in our communities. She is a cosponsor of the Social Security 2100 Act, which would increase Social Security benefits, improve adjustments for inflation, and make more Americans eligible for critical support.  She also introduced the bipartisan Homecare for Seniors Act, which would allow older Americans with health savings accounts to use these funds for homecare expenses. Under Congresswoman Porter’s proposal, seniors who have paid into health savings accounts for years would be able to use these funds for care they need, like help with taking medications and bathing. 

Congresswoman Porter also led a roundtable on the difficulties older Americans and people with disabilities face in housing. Knowing that helping older Americans stay in affordable housing is critical to their financial security, she joined colleagues to urge President Biden to guarantee Housing Choice Vouchers for all eligible Americans and to direct resources toward improving and expanding the housing supply.

Bad actors continue to target older Americans for fraud, and Congresswoman Porter is committed to protecting them. In observance of National Senior Fraud Awareness Day, Congresswoman Porter led a telephone town hall to help seniors protect themselves against callers trying to scam them. With broad bipartisan support, she secured additional resources for the Senior Medicare Patrol program, which helps Medicare recipients identify and stop companies trying to defraud them. 

She has worked on bipartisan legislation to crack down on “scam PACs” that pose as political parties or candidates. These scam PACs disproportionately target and cheat older Americans and veterans out of millions of dollars. Her legislation would empower the Federal Election Commission to shut these operations down.

Congresswoman Porter voted for the Protecting Seniors from Emergency Scams Act, which passed the House of Representatives. This bill adds a section to the Federal Trade Commission website that allows consumers to search for scams targeting seniors. It also directs media outlets, law enforcement, and the federal government to work together to provide information on scams and make recommendations to Congress about how to prevent them in the future.