[Nfbf-l] template letter for Senators attached

[Merry Schoch]

Dear Federation Family,

 

Attached and below is the text of the template email requesting our
Senator's support for the following issues:  Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,
S. 732, the Access Technology Affordability Act of 2017, and Accessible
Instructional Materials in Higher Education (AIM HIGH) Act (S. 2138). Also,
I have provided the contact information for both Senators.  Please revise
this template to add a personal story if you have one. I emailed my letters
before submitting this to the list.  Let's go Florida..let's make this
happen..so we can live the lives we want!

 

 <http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/> Nelson, Bill - (D - FL) 

Class I

716 Hart Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510

(202) 224-5274

Contact:  <https://www.billnelson.senate.gov/contact-bill>
www.billnelson.senate.gov/contact-bill 

  _____  

 <http://www.rubio.senate.gov/> Rubio, Marco - (R - FL) 

Class III

284 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510

(202) 224-3041

Contact:  <http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact>
www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact

 

Dear Senator (enter name),

 

As a blind constituent, I am writing to ask for your support by leaving the
standard deduction for the blind in the senate bill of the Tax Cuts and Jobs
Act of 2017. Your support for this critical tax deduction provides blind
individuals with the standard deduction valued at $6,350. Unfortunately,
blind Americans are historically underemployed, and this bill would create
an undue hardship for many blind people across the nation.

My second request is to ask you to please cosponsor S. 732, the Access
Technology Affordability Act of 2017. Nearly 60 percent of blind Americans
are unemployed which makes it difficult to afford since access technology
continues to range from $1,000 to $6,000. The Access Technology
Affordability Act provides a simple solution that will increase the
availability of access technology so that blind Americans can procure these
items for themselves. It establishes a refundable tax credit for blind
Americans in the amount of $2,500 to be used over a 3-year period to offset
the cost of access technology. Currently, there are three cosponsors on the
bill, Senators Cardin and Van Hollen from Maryland and Senator Coons from
Delaware. 

 

On Thursday, November 16, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Senator Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) introduced the Accessible Instructional Materials in Higher
Education (AIM HIGH) Act (S. 2138). This legislation develops voluntary
accessibility guidelines for instructional materials used in 

postsecondary education. A purpose-based commission is tasked with
developing 

accessibility criteria for instructional materials and the delivery 

systems/technologies used to access those materials. Additionally, the 

commission is tasked with developing an annotated list of existing national
and 

international standards so that schools and developers can identify what
makes a 

product usable by the blind. Please help blind students of America by
cosponsoring S. 2138.

 

If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me
either by replying to this email or calling 813/625-1850.

 

Sincerely,

 

Your name

 

Wishing you all a great week! Let's turn our dreams into reality!

Warmly,

Merry

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