[Ct-nfb] From Willington: Please Cosponsor S. 2596

[Justin Salisbury]

PO Box 212
Willington, CT 06279
860-989-7865
Justin.Salisbury at earthlink.net<mailto:Justin.Salisbury at earthlink.net>

Dear Alec,

I am writing to request that Senator Murphy cosponsor S. 2596, which will extend the benefits of space-available air travel, a no-cost program, to include disabled veterans who became disabled prior to 09/23/1996. I am proud to say that Congressman Joe Courtney cosponsored the House version of the bill, HR 2264.
Currently, six prioritized categories of people can get in line for a free seat if any exist on a military flight. The first priority is for active duty military, and the last priority is for retired veterans. Those veterans who acquired service-connected disabilities on or after 09/23/1996 are included in the retired category, but those who became disabled before 09/23/1996 are not included. This bill will simply extend that no-cost way of thanking our veterans to those who became disabled before 09/23/1996. From all the conversations that I have had with people around Connecticut, people generally believe that it was honest oversight that the older veterans were not included when the definitions in this program were amended on 09/23/1996. Let's please correct that for them.
               The US House of Representatives already included this language in its version of the NDAA as an amendment. There was an effort to do that in the Senate NDAA, but it fell short. This will need to be sorted out in the conference committee. If our Senator chooses to be a cosponsor of this stand-alone bill, this will help strengthen the case for us to take advantage of this no-cost way of thanking our older disabled veterans just like we thank the younger ones.

Could you please ask Senator Murphy to cosponsor S. 2596 and let me know what he says?

Thank you in advance for your support!

Very Respectfully,

Justin Salisbury

Justin M. Salisbury, MA, NOMC, NCRTB, NCUEB
Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety
National Federation of the Blind
Email: President at Alumni.ECU.edu<mailto:President at Alumni.ECU.edu>
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-salisbury
Twitter: @SalisburyJustin

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."

William Butler Yeats


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