[Arizona-News] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] Legislative Alert - April 14, 2025

Mon Apr 14 21:56:52 UTC 2025

Dear Federation Family:

Last week, the United States House of Representatives passed the FY25
Concurrent Budget Resolution. Now that both chambers of Congress have passed
this resolution, the work begins on the comprehensive tax bill, part of the
reconciliation process that is frequently mentioned in the news. This
comprehensive tax bill is the perfect vehicle to include our tax bill, the
Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA). In order to get the Access
Technology Affordability Act, bill number H.R. 1529, included in the overall
tax bill, we need substantial bipartisan cosponsor support. We are well on
our way to that goal. Currently we have eighteen cosponsors. Of those, eight
are Republican and ten are Democratic. 

We need to make a substantial and intensive effort to get a lot more
cosponsors, especially Republican cosponsors since the Republicans hold the
majority in both the House and Senate. We are currently in a fantastic
position to get the Access Technology Affordability Act enacted into law.
One recent development in our favor is the dynamic score done by
Mathematica. This score estimates that the ATAA would save the Federal
government $315 million over a five-year period.

This is the ideal opportunity that members of the National Federation of the
Blind have been waiting for. We have a tax vehicle, we have a solid estimate
that the bill will save the Federal government $315 million, and we have a
bill sponsor who is dedicated to the bill, but we do not have a lot of time.
Congress will pass the comprehensive tax bill as soon as they come to an
agreement. If we are going to get the ATAA included, we need to demonstrate
overwhelming support in the next few weeks. It is vitally important that we
reach out to every member of Congress, if they have not already cosponsored
ATAA. We need your help in this endeavor. 

When you call or email, you might say the following:

"Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I am a constituent of [REPRESENTATIVE
NAME]. I live in [CITY, STATE]. I would like to urge [REPRESENTATIVE NAME]
to cosponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act, H.R. 1529. This bill
will create a refundable tax credit for the purchase of qualified access
technology for the blind. In addition, a recent report created by
Mathematica estimates that the passage of the Access Technology
Affordability Act will actually save the government money, approximately
$315 million over five years, by increasing employment for blind Americans,
thereby decreasing the need for us to receive government benefits while
contributing more in taxes. 

Thanks."

A current list of cosponsors, organized alphabetically by state, is below.
If your representative is already on this list, you have helped a tremendous
amount. Great job! If your representative does not yet appear on this list,
you can contact your member of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard
and asking for the office in question. The number is 202-224-3121. We have
also attached a contact list of House offices, sorted by state, to this
email, but if you have any questions on office contacts, please contact
Lindsey Walsh at lwalsh at nfb.org <mailto:lwalsh at nfb.org> . If you contact
your representative via email, please copy Jesse Shirek at jshirek at nfb.org
<mailto:jshirek at nfb.org> . Your calls and emails are important feedback for
our members of Congress to receive and truly do make a difference.

Rep. Kelly, Mike [R-PA-16] (Sponsor)

Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA-4] (Lead Cosponsor)

Rep. Costa, Jim [D-CA-21]    

Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19]         

Rep. Sánchez, Linda T. [D-CA-38]    

Rep. Valadao, David G. [R-CA-22]   

Rep. Waters, Maxine [D-CA-43]         

Rep. Crow, Jason [D-CO-6]  

Rep. Castor, Kathy [D-FL-14]              

Rep. Steube, W. Gregory [R-FL-17]  

Rep. Wasserman Schultz, Debbie [D-FL-25]            

Rep. Bost, Mike [R-IL-12]       

Rep. LaHood, Darin [R-IL-16]              

Rep. Guest, Michael [R-MS-3]            

Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15]    

Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-17]            

Rep. Veasey, Marc A. [D-TX-33]         

Rep. DelBene, Suzan K. [D-WA-1]    

Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1]

Thank you for all of your hard work,

Jesse

Jesse Shirek

Governmental Affairs Specialist

200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230

410-659-9314, extension 2348 | jshirek at nfb.org <mailto:jshirek at nfb.org> 

 <https://nfb.org/> 

<http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>
<https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>      <https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind> 

The National Federation of the Blind is a community of members and friends
who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nations blind. Every day we work
together to help blind people live the lives they want. 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/arizona-news_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250414/4eee73ff/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ~WRD0000.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 823 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/arizona-news_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250414/4eee73ff/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: March Legislative Alert Spreadsheet.xlsx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet
Size: 60254 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/arizona-news_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250414/4eee73ff/attachment.xlsx>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
NFBNet-Members-List mailing list
NFBNet-Members-List at nfbnet.org
List archives:  <http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnet-members-list_nfbnet.org>
To unsubscribe from NFBNet-Members-List:
goto http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbnet-members-list_nfbnet.org/nfb.az.president%40gmail.com