[New-York-News] FW: [Nfbnet-members-list] Legislative Alert 9/15/2021

[Justin Young]

Hi All,

 

Hoping this message finds you well. The following Legislative alert was sent
out yesterday afternoon by John Pare, Executive Director of Advocacy &
Policy at the NFB. The idea of the below legislative action is for us to
urge our U.S. Senators to co-sponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act
(S.212). By building up the list of co-sponsors, we will show the Senate
there is greater support for the bill. We want to ensure this legislation
gets included in the Senate reconciliation package currently under
consideration. As indicated in John's email, the House reconciliation
package has included the Access Technology Affordability Act, but the Senate
has yet to do so. Senator Gillibrand is a co-sponsor of the bill, but Senate
Majority Leader Schumer is not currently a co-sponsor.

 

Since Schumer is the Majority Leader and more often than not, his staff says
because of him being Majority Leader he doesn't co-sponsor legislation, John
has recommended our ask should be modified slightly. Instead of asking him
to co-sponsor S.212, we will be requesting he ensure the provisions of the
Access Technology Affordability act are included in the Senate
reconciliation package. So John's suggested script is pasted below with this
edit for you to use when emailing or calling the office:

 

"Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I live in [CITY, STATE]. I would like
Senate Majority Leader Schumer to ensure the provisions of the Access
Technology Affordability Act, S. 212 will be included in the Senate
reconciliation package. 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. Thank you (your name)."

 

It has been also suggested we contact Senate Majority Leader Schumer's
legislative staffer who deals with taxation legislation and their contact
information is below:

 

Anna Rennie

anna_taylor at schumer.senate.gov <mailto:anna_taylor at schumer.senate.gov> 

202-224-6542 

 

Thanks,

 

 

Dr. Justin T. Young, Ed.D

Treasurer, National Federation of the Blind of New York State.

Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of New York State,
Rochester Chapter.

 

From: NFBNet-Members-List <nfbnet-members-list-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf
Of Pare, John via NFBNet-Members-List
Sent: Wednesday, September 15, 2021 3:42 PM
To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Legislative Alert 9/15/2021

 

Dear Federation Family:

 

Congratulations, our hard work has paid off. The provisions of the Access
Technology Affordability Act have been included in the reconciliation
package currently moving through the House of Representatives. We will keep
you apprised of this activity.

 

In the meantime, we need to move quickly to build cosponsor support for the
Access Technology Affordability Act in the Senate. We currently have 24
Senate cosponsors but if we can dramatically increase this number over the
next week or two, it would greatly improve our chances of this bill being
included in the Senate version of the reconciliation package.

 

Senator Cardin is the sponsor of the bill. The other 24 Senate cosponsors
are listed below. If one or both of your senators has not yet cosponsored
the Access Technology Affordability Act (S. 212) then I urge you to call or
email them and urge them to please cosponsor this important legislation.

 

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

 

"Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME], and I live in [CITY, STATE]. I would like to
urge [SENATOR NAME] to cosponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act, S.
212. 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.

 

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 senators, please copy Jeff Kaloc at jkaloc at nfb.org
<mailto:jkaloc at nfb.org> . Your calls and emails do make a difference.

 

It is best to call or email the relevant staff person in your senator's
office. For your convenience, we have attached a list of relevant staffers
in the Senate offices that have not cosponsored the Access Technology
Affordability Act (S. 212). If you do not see your member of Congress,
please email Jeff and he will do further research.  

 

The list of current cosponsors is pasted below.

 

Thank you for all that you do,

 

John

 

S. 212 Cosponsors

Sen. Murkowski, Lisa [R-AK]        

Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR]

Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]     

Sen. Padilla, Alex [D-CA] 

Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]   

Sen. Young, Todd [R-IN] 

Sen. Moran, Jerry [R-KS]               

Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD]    

Sen. Smith, Tina [D-MN] 

Sen. Blunt, Roy [R-MO]  

Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]

Sen. Rosen, Jacky [D-NV]              

Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]     

Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY]               

Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]

Sen. Cramer, Kevin [R-ND]           

Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]        

Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]

Sen. Casey, Robert P., Jr. [D-PA] 

Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI]     

Sen. Leahy, Patrick [D-VT]            

Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA]      

Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]

Sen. Capito, Shelley Moore [R-WV]          

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