[Charlotte-Mecklenburg-Chapter] crucial legislation to work on NOW!

Thu May 15 20:58:39 UTC 2025

From: Sharon Newton

Hello everyone!
We have crucial legislation to work on NOW as the below indicates.   Please call 202 224 3121 (Capitol switch board number that reaches all reps' and senators'
' offices..  You may also email to the following email addresses.

Representative Alma Adams - Adrien.christian at mail.house.gov<mailto:Adrien.christian at mail.house.gov>

Representative Mark Harris - Courtney.ball at mail.house.gov<mailto:Courtney.ball at mail.house.gov>

Representative Tim Moore - grady.austin at mail.house.gov<mailto:grady.austin at mail.house.gov>

Representative Virginia Foxx -  bryan.mcvae at mail.house.gov<mailto:bryan.mcvae at mail.house.gov>

I am including Representative Virginia Foxx's info because she is the head of the Rules Committee.  She and her committee along with the Speakerr of the House decide what goes onto the floor of the Hose to be debated and voted upon.  Obviously, the more co-signers a bill has, the better.  Below you will find John Pare's letter.  As I offered in the meeting, I will be happy to help you send an email to the reps.  Please call me at 704 334 8758.  This is a landline.  Please leave me your name and phone number and a convenient time to call you back.

Dear Federation Family:

The House of Representatives is working on the tax package. They hope to have it completed in the next month or two. This is a golden opportunity to get the Access Technology Affordability Act enacted into law, but we need to move fast.

As a quick reminder, the Access Technology Affordability Act would create a $2,000 refundable tax credit for use over a three-year period for the purchase of access technology. This credit would help put more access technology in the hands of blind people thereby helping us learn, work, and live the lives we want.

Mathematica, a well respected economic forecasting company, has evaluated the bill and estimate it will save the federal government $315 million over a five-year period. This cost savings is achieved by the increased number of blind people who will be working thereby lowering the number of people collecting benefits and increasing the number of people paying federal and FICA taxes.

This is a beneficial all around. We get more of the access technology we need, more blind people are able to transition to work, the federal government saves money, and we contribute to the growth of the American economy.

Rep. Mike Kelly, the chair of the Ways and Means Committee, Subcommittee on Tax, is the sponsor of our bill. Rep. Mike Thompson, who is the ranking member of the same subcommittee is the lead cosponsor. We currently have nineteen cosponsors including several members of the full Ways and Means committee.

But, the competition to get into the tax package is fierce. We are not the only group that realizes what a great opportunity this is. One of the primary ways that bills will be evaluated for inclusion in the tax package is cosponsor support. That is where all of us come into play. If your Representative has not already cosponsored the Access Technology Affordability Act, H.R. 1529, (list of cosponsors is included below) then I urge you to email or call your Representative and urge them to cosponsor the bill. If you have already done this, but they have not yet cosponsored, then I urge you to contact them again. We need all hands on deck for this effort, so even if you've never called your member of Congress before, this is the perfect time to make your first call or send your first email. Remember, the best advocacy is polite, persuasive, and persistent.

When you email or call your Representative, you might say something like:

"My name is (your name) and I am a constituent of Representative (Representative's name).Please cosponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act, H.R. 1529. This bill would help put more access technology in the hands of blind Americans. It does this by creating a $2,000 refundable tax credit for blind people for the purchase of specialized access technology. As a blind person myself, I know how important access technology is As just one example, it could enable a blind person to search for a job, apply for a job, and then keep that job. In fact, Mathematica, a well-respected economic firm, has estimated that the bill will help more blind Americans work thereby saving the federal government $315 million over a five-year period. This bill will help your constituents, help the federal government save money, and help the American economy. I would be extremely appreciative if you would consider cosponsoring this bill."

Attached is a list of each legislative director for each Representative sorted by state. The list includes the legislative director's name and email address. I recommend you email that person, but you could also call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for the office in question.

If you email, please copy Jesse Shirek at jshirek at nfb.org<mailto:jshirek at nfb.org>. If you have questions regarding the legislative point of contact, please email Lindsey Walsh at lwalsh at nfb.org<mailto:lwalsh at nfb.org>.

If at all possible, please send your email as soon as possible..

Working together we will be successful!

Warm regards,
John
Below are the names of the reps who have already signed on to H.R. 1529.

Rep. Costa, Jim [D-CA-21]
Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19]
Rep. Sánchez, Linda T. [D-CA-38]
Rep. Thompson, Mike [D-CA-4]
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. Bacon, Don [R-NE-2]
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]

John Paré
Executive Director for Advocacy and Policy
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
410-659-9314, extension 2218 | jpare at nfb.org<mailto:kwalls at nfb.org>

[Image removed by sender. National Federation of the Blind]<https://nfb.org/>

                         [Image removed by sender. Facebook] <http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>     [Image removed by sender. Twitter] <https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>     [Image removed by sender. Youtube] <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 nation's 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/charlotte-mecklenburg-chapter_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250515/2f409435/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 629 bytes
Desc: image002.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/charlotte-mecklenburg-chapter_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250515/2f409435/attachment.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image004.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 344 bytes
Desc: image004.jpg
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/charlotte-mecklenburg-chapter_nfbnet.org/attachments/20250515/2f409435/attachment-0001.jpg>