[NFBNJ] Have Your Voices Heard!Legislative Alert

Tue Feb 5 19:10:54 UTC 2019

Greetings to all!
We have an opportunity for our voices to be heard and to make a difference!
Each voice is important as one voice becomes many voices as we walk alone 
and march together to inform our Congressional Representatives and Senators 
on the following bills,  Transformation to Competitive Employment Act.
Ryan Stevens, NFBNJ Legislative Director has provided additional information 
for all to consider.
For those that already made the calls, thanks.
For those that have not made the calls, please do so.
Please read through the entire message as it provides what is needed for a 
successful call.
My past experience, each call takes less than 2 minutes.  Please invest six 
minutes to make the calls.
Each of us has one Congressional representative and we all have both 
Senators to contact.
After you have made the calls, please email Ryan and Linda.

In addition, if you email, please copy Gabe Cazares at gcazares at nfb.org Ryan 
Stevens at rysteve at comcast.net   and Linda Melendez at 
lindamelendez220 at gmail.com

Enough of me writing, I need to make my calls!  GRIN!

Warmly,
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

From: Ryan Stevens
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2019 1:23 PM
To: nfbnj1 at verizon.net
Subject: FW: [Nfbnet-master-list] Legislative Alert
>From Ryan Stevens:
As you may have seen, Gabe Cazares, NFB's Manager of Governmental Affairs 
has asked us to call our Congressional representatives and express our 
support for the Transformation to Competetive Employment Act. In the Senate, 
the bill number is S260, and in the House, it's Hr873. This act would 
eliminate subminimum wages for disabled workers six years after its passage. 
I am including Gabe's original alert to give you more details.

I would be so proud of this affiliate if we flooded the phone lines to show 
our support for this legislation. After my signature is a list of all New 
Jersey House members which includes district numbers, representative names 
and DC phone numbers. Beneath that will be the phone numbers for Senators 
Booker and Menendez. Please use them as a guide. If you do not know who your 
member of Congress is, you can go to house.gov and enter your zip code, or 
get in touch with your local library.

When you call, plese email me at rysteve at comcast.net and Linda Melendez at 
lindamelendez220 at gmail.com to let us know you did so. This way, we can keep 
track of our progress. I wish to thank you, my fellow NFBNJ members, in 
advance for your work on moving our cause to finally rid subminimum wages 
for disabled workers forward.

Take care,

   Ryan

Ryan Stevens
Legislative Director
National Federation of the Blind of New Jersey

House members:

District  Member               Phone

1             Donald Norcross              202-225-6501

2             Jefferson van Drew          202-225-6572

3             Andy Kim             202-225-4765

4             Chris Smith          202-225-3765

5             Josh Gottheimer               202-225-4465

6             Frank Pallone, Jr.             202-225-4671

7             Tomaz Malinowski           202-225-5361

8             Albio Sires           202-225-7919

9             Bill Pascrell, Jr.   202-225-5751

10           Donald Payne, Jr.             202-225-3436

11           Mikie Sherrill      202-225-5034

12           Bonnie Watson-Coleman              202-225-5801

Senators:

Corey Booker 202-224-3224

Robert Menendez 202-224-4744

>From Gabe
Legislative Alert

Howdy Fellow Federationists:

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s Washington Seminar. 
Because of your advocacy, we are off to a fantastic start in the 116th 
Congress!

As President Riccobono announced at the Great Gathering-In, we have a new 
bill which needs your immediate attention. The Transformation to Competitive 
Employment Act was introduced in the Senate by Senator Casey of Pennsylvania 
and Senator Van Hollen of Maryland, and was assigned bill number S. 260. In 
the House, Chairman Bobby Scott of Virginia and Representative Cathy 
McMorris Rodgers of Washington introduced companion legislation, H.R. 873. 
These bills would phase out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act 
over a six-year period, at which point the provision would officially be 
sunset.

All of this means that we have the opportunity to give these bills a strong 
start by immediately building cosponsor support for both S. 260 and H.R. 
873. Therefore, please call or email your senators and ask them to cosponsor 
S. 260 and call or email your representative and has him or her to cosponsor 
H.R. 873.

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. 260 for Senate calls/H.R. 873 for 
House calls], the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act. This bill 
would phase out subminimum wages for people with disabilities over a 
six-year period, at which point Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards 
Act, the provision that allows this practice, would be sunset. I urge [your 
senator/representative] to cosponsor the bill. Thanks.”

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 gcazares at nfb.org 
<mailto:gcazares 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,

..Gabe

Gabe Cazares
Manager of Government Affairs
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230
(410) 659-9314, extension 2206 | gcazares at nfb.org

<https://nfb.org/>

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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.

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