[Nfbmt] Fwd: [Nfbnet-members-list] Tomorrow is our second #FixWIA Wednesday!

Wed Feb 5 03:31:42 UTC 2014

FYI-

Sheila just reminded me that there is no need to contact Max Baucus'
office on the fixes we want for WIA.  When we met with his LA Jim
Zadick last week, we were told that Max was wrapping up all
legislative work.  With his confirmation passed out of committee
today, it may only be amatter of days before he vacates his Senate
post to be sworn in as Ambassador to China.

So, here is Jon Tester's contact info. Pleas call or e-mail tomorrow to fix WIA:

Jon Tester
724 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-2644
or
(866) 554-4403

My best bet - Sierra Howlett, his LA for Labor and the person we met
with a week ago, along with the Senator:
<Sierra_Howlett at tester.senate.gov>

If those don't suit you, here's some more:
Online Message Form:
http://www.tester.senate.gov/?p=email_senator

Facebook:
facebook.com/senatortester

Twitter:
@JonTester
@TesterPress

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Sloan, Rose" <rsloan at nfb.org>
Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 16:34:11 -0600
Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Tomorrow is our second #FixWIA  Wednesday!
To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org

Federation Family,

Tomorrow is our second #FixWIA Wednesday. We had
a very good campaign a few weeks ago, but
unfortunately our Senators do not understand our concerns with WIA yet.

During our last campaign, we had just over 150
tweets with the hash tag #FixWIA. When we set our
minds to something, there is nothing the
Federation cannot accomplish. I am setting the
goal of 250 tweets with the hash tag #FixWIA.
When tweeting, do not forget to use your
Senators' handles. You can find them, along with
their Facebook pages here:
<http://govsm.com/w/Senate>http://govsm.com/w/Senate.

For those of you who prefer to e-mail your
Senators, I have attached the letter I plan to
send to my Senators. Please consider using this
as a template. For those of you who prefer to
call your Senators, feel free to use this email as a guide for your call.

If you would like even more information about our
concerns with WIA, please see our blog post at:
<https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fix-wia>https://nfb.org/blog/vonb-blog/fix-wia.

Thank you to everyone who helped out with our
first #FixWIA campaign. We have invited other
disability organizations to help with this
effort-together I know we can come up with 250
tweets that embed the hash tag #FixWIA.  Let your
concerns about WIA be heard! Through our efforts,
we can ensure that fewer people with disabilities
are subjected to detrimental subminimum wage sheltered employment.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out
to me at <mailto:rsloan at nfb.org>rsloan at nfb.org or
by calling 410-659-9314 extension 2441.

Thanks everyone,

Rose

February 5, 2014

Dear Senator,

I am writing to express my strong opposition to
Section 511 of Title 5 of the reauthorization of
the Workforce Investment Act (S. 1356).  My main
concern is that Section 511 introduces subminimum
wage employment into the Rehabilitation Act for
the first time ever.  Even more importantly, the
title of Section 511 is not reflected in the text
of Section 511.  While the title claims to put
limitations on employment of individuals with
disabilities at subminimum wage, Subsection a (4)
of the bill text allows anyone to enter subminimum wage sheltered employment.

Senator, I have done my homework with respect to
the impact of subminimum-wage sheltered
employment on people with disabilities.  Studies
show that people with disabilities who enter
sheltered workshops rarely transition into
competitive, community-integrated
employment.  Even though the stated goal of WIA
is to ensure community-integrated employment,
subminimum wage employment is not a viable path
to that goal.  Less than five percent of people
with disabilities in subminimum wage sheltered
employment receive a job in community-integrated
employment.  Please strike Section 511 from WIA.

Additionally, I am concerned about the proposed
move of the Rehabilitation Services
Administration (RSA) from the Department of
Education to the Department of Labor.  Just as
sheltered workshops focus on what people with
disabilities cannot do, the Department of Labor
looks at what a person can currently do without
taking into consideration their potential to
build further skills.  The role of the Department
of Education is to educate, or teach people new
skills.  I fear that if RSA is moved to Labor,
people with disabilities will not be able to
reach their full potential.  Furthermore, there
is no research that shows that moving RSA to the
Department of Labor will be more efficient for
people with disabilities.  Why not save the money
that would be spent to make the move, and put it
towards improving the services that RSA provides?

I hope that I can count on your support.  I
sincerely feel that if you took the time to
review Section 511 for yourself that you will
realize that people with disabilities will be
hindered by the current language in WIA.  Please
offer an amendment that will strike Section 511
and will remove the language that moves RSA from
the Department of Education to the Department of Labor.

I look forward to hearing back from you.  I fear
that WIA may be coming to the floor soon.  Please
contact me at <mailto:Rsloan at nfb.org>Rsloan at nfb.org.

Thank you,

Rose Sloan

Rose Sloan
Government Affairs Specialist

"Eliminating Subminimum Wages for People with Disabilities"
<http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages>http://www.nfb.org/fair-wages

National Federation of the Blind
200 East Wells Street
Baltimore, MD 21230
rsloan at nfb.org
(410)-659-9314 ext 2441

The National Federation of the Blind needs your
support to ensure blind children get an equal
education; to connect blind veterans with the
training and services they need; and to help
seniors who are losing vision continue to live
independent and fulfilling lives. To make a
donation, please go to <http://www.nfb.org>www.nfb.org.

-- 
Dan Burke
My Cell:  406.546.8546
Twitter:  @DallDonal