[Colorado-Talk] Colorado Calls Fwd: [Nfbnet-members-list] Legislative Alert - July 22, 2019

[Dan Burke]

Hey there, Colorado Federationists!

Recovered from convention yet? Time to get back to work on our
legislative priorities in Congress. We all received the e-mail this
week from John Pare, which is quoted below the info I am providing.
John points out that the House adjourns this Friday, so we need to
call tomorrow morning if possible to our respective House members.  Of
course, please call both of our Senators, too. The Senate Adjourns
next week. Both will be shut down for the month of August.  I am
asking that you try to make the call to your Representative for sure
tomorrow.

The two bills are the Transition to Competitive Employment Act, which
will phase out subminimum wages, and the Access Technology
Affordability Act, which would create a tax credit for blind people
who need to purchase assistive technology, such as JAWS or ZoomText or
a Braille note taker.  More info is in John Pare's e-mail below mine.

There are two ways to call. 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.

The other is to call the office directly, and I've given the names of
the House and Senate members below with their office numbers.


House of Representatives
H.R. 2086 - Access Technology Affordability Act - Sponsored by Mike
Thompson (D-CA-5)
H.R. 873 - The Transition to Competitive Employment Act - Sponsored by
Bobby Scott (D-VA-3)

Rep. Ken Buck
202-225-4676

Rep. Jason Crow
(202) 225-7882

Rep. Diana DeGette
202-225-4431

Rep. Doug Lamborn
202-225-4422

Rep. Joe Neguse Already a cosponsor of H.R. 873 to end subminimum
wages. Thank him!)
202-225-2161

Rep. Ed Perlmutter
202-225-2645

Rep. Scott Tipton
202-225-4761


Senate
S. 815 - Access Technology Affordability Act - Sponsored by John Boozman (R-AR)
S. 260 - The Transition to Competitive Employment Act - Sponsored by
Bob Casey (D-PA)

Senator Michael Bennet
202-224-5852

Senator Cory Gardner
202-224-5941

Thanks for your part in advancing our Congressional priorities! You
calls matter.

Best,
Dan


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Pare, John via NFBNet-Members-List" <nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org>
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2019 15:50:05 +0000
Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Legislative Alert - July 22, 2019
To: "nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org" <nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org>

Dear Federation Family:

The House of Representatives will go on its annual August break at the
end of this week. The Senate will go on its August break at the end of
the following week. We need to build as much cosponsor support as we
can before this occurs.

Please call your representative and two senators and urge them to
cosponsor the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act and the
Access Technology Affordability Act if they have not already done so.
A complete list of current cosponsors is included at the end of this
email. A summary of the two bills follows.

Transformation to Competitive Employment Act
House - H.R. 873 - Sponsored by Bobby Scott (D-VA-3)
Senate - S. 260 - Sponsored by Bob Casey (D-PA)
These bills would phase out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards
Act over a six-year period, at which point the provision would
officially be sunset.

Access Technology Affordability Act
House - H.R. 2086 - Sponsored by Mike Thompson (D-CA-5)
Senate - S. 815 - Sponsored by John Boozman (R-AR)
This legislation removes an employment barrier commonly experienced by
blind Americans who cannot afford the high cost of access technology
by creating a refundable tax credit in the amount of $2,000 to offset
the cost of these technologies.

When you call or email, you might say something like the following:
"Hello, my name is [your name] and I am a constituent of [your
senator/representative]. I live in [city, state]. I am calling to urge
[your senator/representative] to cosponsor [S. 260 for Senate
calls/H.R. 873 for House calls], the Transformation to Competitive
Employment Act. This bill would phase out subminimum wages for people
with disabilities over a six-year period, at which point Section 14(c)
of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the provision that allows this
practice, would be sunset. I urge [your senator/representative] to
cosponsor the bill.

I am also calling to urge [your senator/representative] to cosponsor
[S. 815 for Senate calls/H.R. 2086 for House calls], the Access
Technology Affordability Act. This legislation removes an employment
barrier commonly experienced by blind Americans who cannot afford the
high cost of access technology by creating a refundable tax credit in
the amount of $2,000 to offset the cost of these technologies. I urge
[your senator/representative] to cosponsor the bill.

Thanks."

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. If you email your representative or senators, please
copy Gabe Cazares at gcazares at nfb.org<mailto:gcazares at nfb.org>. Your
calls and emails do make a difference. Of particular note, we are up
to fifty cosponsors on the House Transformation to Competitive
Employment Act.

List of cosponsors as of July 22, 2019:

Transformation to Competitive Employment Act S. 260
Sen. Harris, Kamala D. [D-CA]
Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]
Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD]
Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]
Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY]
Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI]

Transformation to Competitive Employment Act H.R. 873
Rep. Brownley, Julia [D-CA-26]
Rep. Cisneros, Gilbert Ray, Jr. [D-CA-39]
Rep. Cox, TJ [D-CA-21]
Rep. Davis, Susan A. [D-CA-53]
Rep. DeSaulnier, Mark [D-CA-11]
Rep. Harder, Josh [D-CA-10]
Rep. Hill, Katie [D-CA-25]
Rep. Huffman, Jared [D-CA-2]
Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17]
Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-41]
Rep. Neguse, Joe [D-CO-2]
Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]
Rep. Wilson, Frederica S. [D-FL-24]
Rep. Gabbard, Tulsi [D-HI-2]
Rep. Garcia, Jesus G. "Chuy" [D-IL-4]
Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9]
Rep. Axne, Cynthia [D-IA-3]
Rep. Davids, Sharice [D-KS-3]
Rep. Golden, Jared F. [D-ME-2]
Rep. Pingree, Chellie [D-ME-1]
Rep. Raskin, Jamie [D-MD-8]
Rep. Trone, David J. [D-MD-6]
Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2]
Rep. Moulton, Seth [D-MA-6]
Rep. Neal, Richard E. [D-MA-1]
Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7]
Rep. Levin, Andy [D-MI-9]
Rep. Stevens, Haley M. [D-MI-11]
Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-13]
Rep. Omar, Ilhan [D-MN-5]
Rep. Engel, Eliot L. [D-NY-16]
Rep. Katko, John [R-NY-24]
Rep. Maloney, Sean Patrick [D-NY-18]
Rep. Morelle, Joseph D. [D-NY-25]
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria [D-NY-14]
Rep. Price, David E. [D-NC-4]
Rep. Kaptur, Marcy [D-OH-9]
Rep. Ryan, Tim [D-OH-13]
Rep. Bonamici, Suzanne [D-OR-1]
Rep. Dean, Madeleine [D-PA-4]
Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1]
Rep. Gonzalez-Colon, Jenniffer [R-PR-At Large]
Rep. Langevin, James R. [D-RI-2]
Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]
Rep. Cooper, Jim [D-TN-5]
Rep. Burgess, Michael C. [R-TX-26]
Rep. Stewart, Chris [R-UT-2]
Rep. Jayapal, Pramila [D-WA-7]
Rep. Rodgers, Cathy McMorris [R-WA-5]
Rep. Pocan, Mark [D-WI-2]

Access Technology Affordability Act S. 815
Sen. Jones, Doug [D-AL]
Sen. Sullivan, Dan [R-AK]
Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
Sen. Collins, Susan M. [R-ME]
Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]
Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD]
Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]
Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE]
Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]
Sen. Udall, Tom [D-NM]
Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]
Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Sen. Casey, Robert P., Jr. [D-PA]
Sen. Capito, Shelley Moore [R-WV]

Access Technology Affordability Act H.R. 2086
Rep. Calvert, Ken [R-CA-42]
Rep. Hunter, Duncan D. [R-CA-50]
Rep. Gaetz, Matt [R-FL-1]
Rep. Murphy, Stephanie N. [D-FL-7]
Rep. Visclosky, Peter J. [D-IN-1]
Rep. Ruppersberger, C. A. Dutch [D-MD-2]
Rep. Sarbanes, John P. [D-MD-3]
Rep. Lynch, Stephen F. [D-MA-8]
Rep. Pressley, Ayanna [D-MA-7]
Rep. Huizenga, Bill [R-MI-2]
Rep. Kildee, Daniel T. [D-MI-5]
Rep. Moolenaar, John R. [R-MI-4]
Rep. Tlaib, Rashida [D-MI-13]
Rep. Upton, Fred [R-MI-6]
Rep. Pascrell, Bill, Jr. [D-NJ-9]
Rep. Blumenauer, Earl [D-OR-3]
Rep. Fitzpatrick, Brian K. [R-PA-1]
Rep. Kelly, Mike [R-PA-16]
Rep. Cooper, Jim [D-TN-5]
Rep. Stewart, Chris [R-UT-2]

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at
410-659-9314, extension 2218 or email me at
JPare at nfb.org<mailto:JPare at nfb.org>.

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-- 
Dan Burke
President, NFB of Denver

"Blindness is not what holds you back.  You can live the life you want!"
My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal