Tuberville Joins Committee on Aging, Discusses Ways to Help Americans to Thrive

January 15, 2025 - WASHINGTON – At his first hearing as a new member of the Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) discussed issues impacting the wellness of the American people. During the discussion, Sen. Tuberville asked about spam and robocall operations attempting to steal money from American seniors. Additionally, Sen. Tuberville questioned witnesses about instilling healthy lifestyle habits in young people, as well as the importance of community and social engagement for a fulfilled life.

TUBERVILLE: "Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thrilled to be on this committee with you. You've laid out a great vision for the committee: 'Are Americans are doing well?'

We should have some great hearings. I think most Americans would respond to that question with concerns or worries. Americans, and not just seniors, are concerned about their safety, health care, finance, nutrition, and stability for communities.

The fact that so many Americans are concerned about their general welfare is unacceptable. We live in the most abundant country in the world. Anxieties about things like public safety, harmful chemicals in foods, financial security, and retirement security shouldn't be at the forefront of Americans' minds, but they are.

Elites in Washington have ignored these concerns for far too long and the American people are tired of it. So, [with] President Trump's election, Republicans taking back the Senate, we're going to leave no stone unturned. Thanks to our chairman.

I want to make sure that when Americans are asked about their wellness, they respond with hope and optimism, not fear and anxiety. So, I look forward to digging into these with you, Mr. Chairman. It should be fun. Should have a good time, and maybe we can make some progress.

Sheriff, really quickly, I know you hit the spam and the robocalls. I've gotten several spam texts as we've been sitting here. It's annoying, and I'm sure to seniors who are retired, sitting around, they get absolutely sick of it. You've worked with this. What can we do on the federal level to help this? Is there anything that we can do to eliminate some of this garbage?"

SHERIFF BILL PRUMMELL: "You know, I don't know if we're ever going be able to eliminate it. Because with the AI and with all the different technology that are coming up, they're using technology to commit the crimes, and we're trying to use the technology to catch them now. So we're trying to keep up. Problem is a lot of legislation both on state levels and federal levels isn't keeping up with technology. It's years behind. So that's a big thing that we need to look at is legislation and technology. You know, when people receive phone calls and all that, now they can spoof numbers, so they can use a number that is very familiar with them. They can, I mean, we have people that use the sheriff's office number when they're trying to do the jail scam. Because they can easily spoof the numbers. It's just trying to keep up with technology. We really need to get a handle on it."

TUBERVILLE: "Doctor Hughes, we've got a serious nutrition wellness problem in this country. Serious. Can you speak to the importance of a lifestyle in earlier years to help our young people understand what they're getting ready to get into later in life?"

DR. SUSAN L. HUGHES: "Yeah. I think that's a great question. I think we have a real opportunity to educate people, you know, early on and develop a life course perspective to health education, physical fitness, you know, so on and so forth. It's going to be, you know, far more cost effective in the future if we can get people to adopt, you know, good healthy nutrition habits, physical activity, other types of activities that will really, really improve their functioning and quality of life as they age into old age."

TUBERVILLE: "You know, our young people don't have it as good as we've had it growing up because we used [to eat] fresh food and vegetables. They eat all this processed food now. I don't know where it's going. I hope we can get a handle on that. I really do. Doctor Carr, whether it be friends or family, what is the significance of community and social engagement?"

DR. DAWN CARR: "Can you repeat that question? What is the significance?"

TUBERVILLE: "I wanted to read it myself. Whether it be friends or family, what is the significance of community in social engagement. In other words, what can the community do? Not just your family, but your community and your social outcome, you know, boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife. I mean, how can that all work together to make us have a better, longer life?"

DR. DAWN CARR: "Well, it's been very interesting over the last twenty years because I think for the first time scientific efforts have been able to show that friends matter a lot. The growing research showing mortality consequences of loneliness and social isolation have really accentuated our understanding of why relationships matter. And I think for a long time, things like friendships and family relationships were thought of as sort of soft, not real health behaviors."

TUBERVILLE: "Right. Make a huge difference."

DR. DAWN CARR: "Yes. But I think that there's clear evidence and sometimes when I talk to people and they say, 'what are the key issues when you think about longevity?' And I put social health broadly speaking at the top of that list. And that isn't just you have a good marriage, or you have a few good friends, but the interconnected relationships we have within our community are heavily related to that. So, if we're in a community where we belong and we're able to have our needs met and work as part of a team. Like I mentioned, I think, in my testimony, solving problems together, those are really powerful relationships that help us feel like we matter, and we have a place in the spaces that we're in."

Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, HELP, and Aging Committees.