[IABS-Talk] Action Needed! Access Technology Affordability Act H.R. 3702/S. 1477

[davant1958 at gmail.com]

Hello All,

We are getting ready for Washington Seminar 2024. Meanwhile, our national
office has sent us some new information about the Access Technology
Affordability Act H.R. 3702/S. 1467. We need to email or call our
representatives and senators right away to ask that they  cosponsor the
bills in their respective chambers because there may be a year-end tax
component added to the annual National Defense Authorization Act. The Access
Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 3702/S. 1467) is a perfect candidate for
that  package. There are currently 44 cosponsors in the House and 14 in the
Senate . Illinois has three representatives cosponsoring the Access
Technology Affordability Act and if you haven't done so already, please
email or call to say thank you. They are, Brad Schneider (D. IL 10), Mike
Quigley (D. IL 5) and Mike Bost (R. IL 12).

As a quick reminder, the Access Technology Affordability Act would create a
$2,000 refundable tax credit that could be used to offset the high cost of
access technology. For a more thorough explanation, you can read our Access
Technology Affordability Act fact sheet
<https://nfb.org/sites/nfb.org/files/2023-10/Access-Technology-Affordability
-Act-Fact-Sheet.docx> .

Even if you may have already reached out to your members of Congress, it is
essential that we reach out again because sometimes notes and emails are
misplaced and we need to ensure our representatives in Washington receive
our message. 

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

"Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I am a constituent of
[SENATOR/REPRESENTATIVE NAME]. I live in [CITY, STATE]. I would like to urge
[SENATOR/REPRESENTATIVE NAME] to cosponsor the Access Technology
Affordability Act, S. 1467/H.R. 3702. 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 this technology.

Just so you know, we had 15 Illinois cosponsors in the 117th Congress, many
of whom are serving in the 118th Congress. So, if your representatives name
is on the below list, you can let him/her know they previously cosponsored
the Act, which is the same in this Congress. This usually gets them to sign
back on.

They were:

Rep. Mike Bost (R. IL. 12)

Rep. Sean Casten (D. IL. 6)

Rep. Danny K. Davis (D. IL. 7)

Rep. Phil Foster (D. IL. 11)

Rep. Jesus Garcia (D. IL. 4)

Rep. Robin Kelly (D. IL> 2)

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D. IL. 8)

Rep. Darin LaHood (R. IL. 18)

Rep. Mike Quigley (D. IL 5)

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D. IL. 9)

Rep. Brad Schneider (D. IL. 10)

Rep. Lauren Underwood (D. IL. 14)

Senator Duckworth cosponsored in the senate when the bill was S. 212.

If you need the contact information for your representative, please reach
out to one of the two federal legislation cochairs Denise Avant,
davant1958 at gmail.com <mailto:davant1958 at gmail.com>  or Dustin Cather at
cather.dustin at gmail.com <mailto:cather.dustin at gmail.com> .

Thank you for all you do to improve the lives of blind people.