[nfbmi-talk] Washington Seminar

[Christine Boone]

Well done Terri: In honor of the Super Bowl tomorrow (GO Bronco's) I would say that Terri did a great job with the play-by-play. I hope you will not mind a bit of color commentary:  

As I told Larry Posont the other night, we should all be incredibly proud of this year's delegation from Michigan. Each member, JJ Meddaugh, Terri Wilcox, Jeff Crouch, Elizabeth Monke  did a fantastic job of articulating the issues, and even yours truly did a creditable job. We switched it up in the varrious offices we visited, so that everyone who attended the meeting for the Federation was speaking on one of the issues. No bumps on a log for Michigan. Our dialogue was so professional, persuasive and positive, that Anil Louis, Rose Sloan and Lauren McLarney all said that ours was the best delegation they had seen for speaking out the issues and engaging Senate and house members and staffers in conversation.  This was high praise and made us all feel really great!  

Terri Mentioned that Fred Upton intended to sponsor HR 831 to eliminate sub-minimum wage certificates within 3 years. As of Wednesday morning, Congressman Upton had already contacted the sponsoring Representative, Greg Harper of Mississippi to make his cosponsorship official. We do not know whether Congressman Bentivolio has done this yet but will check. He actually met with us for 40 minutes, and we spent nearly all of this time on the issues themselves, with the Congressman asking good questions.  I know that this happened to our delegates in Congressman Kildee's office as well. Much of our success is a tribute to JJ's ability to get us meetings with congressman and senators about 30% of the time. This is an above average showing in that regard. 
Jeff and Elizabeth were wonderful talking about the TEACH Act, giving actual examples to demonstrate the pressing need for this legislation. JJ and Terri were terrific on all 3 issues, with JJ being especially impactful on the Air Carrier Technology Accessibility Act, using examples from his many travels to illustrate what is currently inaccessible to blind travelers.     

Christine

Boone Christine Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 1, 2014, at 3:12 PM, <trising at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> 
> Now to expand the discussion, what were the topics and pending legislation
> issues presented to legislators?  There were three issues presented to Legislators. They were The Fair Wages Bill, H.R. 831 would 
> phase out subminimum wages for persons with disabilities. The Technology Education Accessibility in College and Higher Education 
> Act, H.R. 3505 will set guidelines so that online learning platforms are accessible for individuals with print disabilities. If a 
> college followed the guidelines set by the Access Board, they could claim that they are ADA compliant. The Air Carrier Technology 
> Act makes mobile apps accessible so that we can check in, find seats, check flight status, and order food and entertainment just 
> like anyone else that pays the same price to fly the friendly skies. What Bills and issues did these named
> legislators become co-sponsors.  Upton intends to cosponsor Fair Wages. Bentivolio intends to sponsor Teach. Were meeting actually 
> with a legislator, or
> only a staff member?  In the case of Upton and Bentivolio, we met with the actual Congressmen. For most of the rest of the 
> appointments, we met with an aid. We briefly said hello to Senator Stabenau and Congressman Amash, but the primary meeting was with 
> an aid.
> J.J. Meddaugh stepped up and made Legislative appointments for Michigan. I hope this answers your questions. If anyone would like 
> the professional explanations that are sent out by the National office to many of our NFB lists about a week before Washington 
> Seminar, go to www.nfb.org and place Washington Seminar 2014 Fact Sheets in the Search Box. You will get more detailed explanations 
> than the ones I have written here.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Terri Wilcox 
> 
> 
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