[NFBNJ] NFBNJ: IMMEDIATE ACTION: Legislative Call To Action

Tue Aug 14 22:14:29 UTC 2018

>From the desk of NFBNJ President Joe Ruffalo.

Received from John Pare, Executive Director of Advocacy and Policy, NFB.

Requested for distribution by Linda Melendez, NFBNJ Board Member.

Greetings to all,

Please read and take immediate action on the following three items of
interest.

1. Methods for looking up federal Congressional rep information

2. Contact listing for federal Congressional representatives

3. Legislative Alert – Access Technology Affordability Act

Note: Currently there are no co-sponsors supporting this bill from New
Jersey. So we need to strongly encourage our federal Congressional
representatives to consider co-sponsoring this bill.

The three items of interest follows.

***

1. Methods for looking up federal Congressional rep:

To contact your member in the House of Representatives or the US Senators
from New Jersey, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. To find your
House member, you can either contact your local public library or go to
www.house.gov <http://www.house.gov>  and enter your zip code. For some of
you, you will need to enter your complete mailing address to determine your
Congressional representative.

***

2. Contact listing for federal Congressional representatives:

Note: the following contact information is for the representative’s office
in Washington, DC.

House of Representatives:

1st District

Congresssman Donald Norcross

Phone: 202 225 6501

Alexander Krupnick, Legislative Correspondent

Email: Alexander.Krupnick at Mail.House.Gov
<mailto:Alexander.Krupnick at Mail.House.Gov> 

2nd District

Congressman Frank LoBiondo

Phone: 202 225 6572

Nicholas Down, Junior Legislative Assistant

Email: Nicholas.Down at mail.house.gov <mailto:Nicholas.Down at mail.house.gov> 

3rd District

Congressman Tom MacArthur

Phone: 202 225 4765

Chris Griswold, Deputy Chief of Staff

Email: chris.griswold at mail.house.gov <mailto:chris.griswold at mail.house.gov> 

4th District

Congressman Chris Smith

Phone: 202 225 3765

Courtney Webb, Legislative Assistant

Email: courtney.webb at mail.house.gov <mailto:courtney.webb at mail.house.gov> 

5th District

Congressman Josh Gottheimer

Phone: 202-225-4465

Matthew Appenfeller, Special Projects Director

Email: matthew.appenfeller at mail.house.gov
<mailto:matthew.appenfeller at mail.house.gov> 

6th District

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr.

Phone: 202 225 4671

Roberto Sada, Legislative Assistant

Email: Roberto.sada at mail.house.gov <mailto:Roberto.sada at mail.house.gov> 

7th District

Congressman Leonard Lance

Phone: 202 225 5361

Bri Hearn, Legislative Assistant - Education

Email: Bri.Hearn at Mail.House.Gov <mailto:Bri.Hearn at Mail.House.Gov> 

8th District

Congressman Albio Sires

Phone: 202 225 7919

Kaylan Koszela, Legislative Director

Email: Kaylan.koszela at mail.house.gov <mailto:Kaylan.koszela at mail.house.gov> 

9th District

Congressman Bill Pascrell

Phone: 202 225 5751

Elaina Houser, Legislative Director

Email: elaina.houser at mail.house.gov <mailto:elaina.houser at mail.house.gov> 

10th District

Congressman Donald M. Payne, Jr.

Phone: 202 225 3436

Erika Northington, Legislative Director

Email: erika.northington at mail.house.gov
<mailto:erika.northington at mail.house.gov> 

11th District

Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen

Phone: 202 225 5034

Steve Silvestri, legislative director 

Email: steve.silvestri at mail.house.gov
<mailto:steve.silvestri at mail.house.gov> 

12th District

Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman

Phone: 202 225 5801

Kevin Block, Senior Policy Advisor

Email: Kevin.Block at mail.House.Gov <mailto:Kevin.Block at mail.House.Gov> 

Senate:

Senator Cory Booker

Phone: 202 224 3224

Daniel Smith, Deputy Counsel

Email: daniel_smith at booker.senate.gov
<mailto:daniel_smith at booker.senate.gov> 

Senator Robert Menendez

Phone: 202 224 4744

Swarna Vallurupalli, Health Counsel

Email: swarna_vallurupalli at menendez.senate.gov
<mailto:swarna_vallurupalli at menendez.senate.gov> 

***

3. Legislative Alert

Dear Fellow Federationists:

This legislative alert focuses on the Access Technology Affordability Act
(H.R. 1734/S. 732). We are making good progress on this legislation and are
up to eighty cosponsors in the House and ten in the Senate. Also, the Joint
Committee on Taxation (JCT) is actively working to determine the annual cost
of the bill, colloquially known as the bill's "score." We are hoping to have
this score before the Labor Day break. A low score combined with support
from JCT will substantially increase the likelihood of the bill's passage.

All of this means that now is the time to work extra hard to build cosponsor
support for both H.R. 1734 and S. 732.

Therefore, please call or email your representative and ask him or her to
cosponsor H.R. 1734 and call or email your two senators and ask them to
cosponsor S. 732.

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

"Hello, my name is [your name] and I am a constituent of [your
senator/representative]. I live in [city, state]. I am calling to urge [your
senator/representative] to cosponsor [S. 732 for Senate calls/H.R. 1734 for
House calls], the Access Technology Affordability Act. This bill would
increase the availability of access technology thereby increasing
educational and employment opportunities for all blind Americans. The bill
does this by creating a tax credit for the purchase of access technology.
The bill has wide cosponsor support with eighty cosponsors in the House and
ten in the Senate. I urge [your senator/representative] to cosponsor the
bill. Thanks."

Also, please check the list at the end of this email for the current list of
Senate and House cosponsors listed alphabetically by state. You do not need
to call anyone on this list, unless you would like to call them and thank
them for their cosponsorship.

The House of Representatives is currently on recess so you may want to
consider scheduling an in-person meeting in the district to discuss this
topic. If you are in a meeting, you will want to go into more detail but
calls and emails do not have to be very long. The key points to mention: the
bill number, that you are a constituent, and that you urge the member of
Congress to cosponsor the legislation.

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 representative or senators, please copy me at JPare at nfb.org
<mailto:JPare at nfb.org> .

It is critical that we move on this quickly, so please strive to make your
calls and send your emails as soon as possible.

Warm regards,

John

John Paré

(410) 659-9314 x 2218

National Federation of the Blind

Senate ATAA Cosponsor List:

Sen. Boozman, John [R-AR] - Bill Sponsor

Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE]

Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]

Sen. Cardin, Benjamin L. [D-MD]

Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD]

Sen. Peters, Gary C. [D-MI]

Sen. Blunt, Roy [R-MO]

Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT]

Sen. Fischer, Deb [R-NE]

Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH]

Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]

House ATAA Cosponsor List:

Rep. Young, David [R-IA-3] - Bill Sponsor

Rep. Sewell, Terri A. [D-AL-7]

Rep. Young, Don [R-AK-At Large]

Rep. Grijalva, Raul M. [D-AZ-3]

Rep. O'Halleran, Tom [D-AZ-1]

Rep. Sinema, Kyrsten [D-AZ-9]

Rep. Correa, J. Luis [D-CA-46]

Rep. Khanna, Ro [D-CA-17]

Rep. Lofgren, Zoe [D-CA-19]

Rep. Napolitano, Grace F. [D-CA-32]

Rep. Roybal-Allard, Lucille [D-CA-40]

Rep. Schiff, Adam B. [D-CA-28]

Rep. Takano, Mark [D-CA-41]

Rep. Torres, Norma J. [D-CA-35]

Rep. Larson, John B. [D-CT-1]

Rep. Norton, Eleanor Holmes [D-DC-At Large]

Rep. Bilirakis, Gus M. [R-FL-12]

Rep. Demings, Val Butler [D-FL-10]

Rep. Gaetz, Matt [R-FL-1]

Rep. Hastings, Alcee L. [D-FL-20]

Rep. Lawson, Al, Jr. [D-FL-5]

Rep. Mast, Brian J. [R-FL-18]

Rep. Posey, Bill [R-FL-8]

Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [R-FL-27]

Rep. Soto, Darren [D-FL-9]

Rep. Gabbard, Tulsi [D-HI-2]

Rep. Hanabusa, Colleen [D-HI-1]

Rep. Bost, Mike [R-IL-12]

Rep. Bustos, Cheri [D-IL-17]

Rep. Davis, Danny K. [D-IL-7]

Rep. Davis, Rodney [R-IL-13]

Rep. Foster, Bill [D-IL-11]

Rep. Gutierrez, Luis V. [D-IL-4]

Rep. Kelly, Robin L. [D-IL-2]

Rep. LaHood, Darin [R-IL-18]

Rep. Lipinski, Daniel [D-IL-3]

Rep. Quigley, Mike [D-IL-5]

Rep. Rush, Bobby L. [D-IL-1]

Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9]

Rep. Schneider, Bradley Scott [D-IL-10]

Rep. Brooks, Susan W. [R-IN-5]

Rep. Messer, Luke [R-IN-6]

Rep. Visclosky, Peter J. [D-IN-1]

Rep. Blum, Rod [R-IA-1]

Rep. Loebsack, David [D-IA-2]

Rep. Barr, Andy [R-KY-6]

Rep. Yarmuth, John A. [D-KY-3]

Rep. Poliquin, Bruce [R-ME-2]

Rep. Raskin, Jamie [D-MD-8]

Rep. Ruppersberger, C. A. Dutch [D-MD-2]

Rep. Capuano, Michael E. [D-MA-7]

Rep. McGovern, James P. [D-MA-2]

Rep. Moulton, Seth [D-MA-6]

Rep. Tsongas, Niki [D-MA-3]

Rep. Kildee, Daniel T. [D-MI-5]

Rep. Ellison, Keith [D-MN-5]

Rep. Nolan, Richard M. [D-MN-8]

Rep. Peterson, Collin C. [D-MN-7]

Rep. Cleaver, Emanuel [D-MO-5]

Rep. Kihuen, Ruben J. [D-NV-4]

Rep. Rosen, Jacky [D-NV-3]

Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1]

Rep. Lujan, Ben Ray [D-NM-3]

Rep. Espaillat, Adriano [D-NY-13]

Rep. Faso, John J. [R-NY-19]

Rep. King, Peter T. [R-NY-2]

Rep. Meng, Grace [D-NY-6]

Rep. Price, David E. [D-NC-4]

Rep. Joyce, David P. [R-OH-14]

Rep. Ryan, Tim [D-OH-13]

Rep. Stivers, Steve [R-OH-15]

Rep. Evans, Dwight [D-PA-2]

Rep. Meehan, Patrick [R-PA-7]

Rep. Smucker, Lloyd [R-PA-16]

Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-5]

Rep. Cicilline, David N. [D-RI-1]

Rep. Johnson, Eddie Bernice [D-TX-30]

Rep. O'Rourke, Beto [D-TX-16]

Rep. Sessions, Pete [R-TX-32]

Rep. Garrett, Thomas A., Jr. [R-VA-5]

Rep. Pocan, Mark [D-WI-2]

Forwarded by:

Brian A. Mackey

Brian A. Mackey, Treasurer & Webmaster
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
609-680-8488
Email:  <mailto:bmackey88 at gmail.com> bmackey88 at gmail.com
Website:  <http://www.nfbnj.org/> www.nfbnj.org
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NFBNJTransformDreams
Live the life you want.
The National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey is a community of members
and friends who believe in the hopes and dreams of the nation’s blind. Every
day we work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

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