[NFBNJ] Urgent Legislative Alert 9-10-2018

Wed Sep 12 15:51:12 UTC 2018

Greetings to all!
I have received from Ryan Stevens, Legislative Director, NFBNJ.
The following was forwarded from Gabe Cazares.

Please make the calls and urge others to do the same.
Joe

We care. We share. We grow. We make a difference
Joe Ruffalo, President
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey
973 743 0075
nfbnj1 at verizon.net
www.nfbnj.org
Raising Expectations To Live The Life You Want!
Your old car keys can be keys to literacy for the blind.
Donate your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking
www.carshelpingtheblind.org
or call 855 659 9314

***

Howdy Fellow Federationists,

I am recirculating the legislative alert that John sent earlier this week. 
It is critical that our affiliates make calls today; because of the 
impending storm, many members of congress are planning to leave town by 
close of business today.

Please urge your affiliate members to:
•    Call chairman Goodlatte and urge him to discharge the Marrakesh Treaty 
Implementation Act (S. 2559) and put it on the house suspension calendar for 
a vote
•    Call their members of Congress and urge them to cosponsor the Access 
Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 1734 and S. 732) if they haven't done so 
already

The full text of the alert is below. If you have any questions, please don't 
hesitate to let us know. Thanks for all that you do to build the Federation!
Best,

...Gabe

Gabe Cazares
(410) 659-9314 x 2206
National Federation of the Blind

-----Original Message-----
From: NFBNet-Members-List [mailto:nfbnet-members-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
Behalf Of Pare, John via NFBNet-Members-List
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2018 2:11 PM
To: nfbnet-members-list at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfbnet-members-list] Urgent Legislative Alert 9-10-2018

Dear Fellow Federationists:

We are at a critical point with two of our legislative priorities which need 
your immediate attention.

First, the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (S. 2559) is sitting idle in 
the House Judiciary Committee. We need Chairman Goodlatte to discharge this 
bill and put it on the House suspension calendar for a vote. The Department 
of State will not ratify the treaty until the House of Representative passes 
this bill and the president signs it into law. This legislation is 
noncontroversial, supported by all relevant stakeholders, and was passed 
unanimously by the Senate on June 28.

Please call Chairman Goodlatte at 202-225-5431 and urge him to "support 
blind Americans by putting the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act, S. 2559, 
on the House suspension calendar." Note that Chairman Goodlatte's email 
web-form blocks any emails from outside his district, so please contact his 
office via phone.

Our second topic is the Access Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 1734). We 
are up to 84 cosponsors in the House and 12 in the Senate. Special thanks to 
the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois. Fourteen House members 
from Illinois and Senator Tammy Duckworth have cosponsored this 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, please copy me at 
JPare at nfb.org<mailto:JPare at nfb.org>.

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 
representative]. I live in [city, state]. I am calling to urge [your 
representative] to cosponsor H.R. 1734, 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 National Federation of the Blind has analyzed the cost 
impact and the bill is either cost neutral or will save the government 
money. I urge [representative] to cosponsor the bill. Thanks."

The 84 House cosponsors are listed below in alphabetical order by state. You 
do not need to contact your representative regarding ATAA if he or she is 
already on this list.

In summary we are asking you to make two calls. One to Chairman Goodlatte 
regarding the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act, and a second call to your 
representative regarding the Access Technology Affordability Act. If you 
have any questions I can be reached at 410-659-9314, extension 2218.

Thanks,
John

Access Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 1734) Cosponsors
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. Denham, Jeff [R-CA-10]
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. Curbelo, Carlos [R-FL-26]
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. Roskam, Peter J. [R-IL-6]
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. Young, David [R-IA-3]
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. Upton, Fred [R-MI-6]
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]

John G. Paré Jr.
Executive Director for Advocacy and Policy
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 659-9314, extension 2218 | jpare at nfb.org<mailto:jpare at nfb.org>

[National Federation of the Blind]<https://nfb.org/>

                         [Facebook] 
<http://www.facebook.com/nationalfederationoftheblind>     [Twitter] 
<https://twitter.com/NFB_Voice>     [Youtube] 
<https://www.youtube.com/NationsBlind>

The National Federation of the Blind 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.

Disclaimer 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20180912/2cb659b2/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed...
Name: ATT00406.txt
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbnj_nfbnet.org/attachments/20180912/2cb659b2/attachment.txt>