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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>February 26, 2020<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Memo To: Executive Officers, Board Members, Chapter & Division Presidents & Others<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>From: Frank Coppel, President<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Positive Note 1750<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Greetings Fellow Federationists:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> We have an announcement regarding the South Carolina Presidential primary being held on Saturday, February 29. P&A will be staffing a line to field issues that disability voters have on election day. That number will be the P&A regular Information and Referral number and will be staffed with an intake professional. Numbers are as follows: Intake Line: 1-866-275-7273, TTY: 1-866-232-4525.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> In the February 12, edition of the Positive Note I stated the work done by us on Capitol Hill on February 11, lays the ground work for passage of the legislative initiatives we discussed with our Congressional delegation. All of us need to continue to contact our Congressmen and Senators throughout the year to encourage these individuals to cosponsor our legislation. To this end, I would like to share with you an email I received from John Paré, our national Executive Director of Advocacy and Policy. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Dear Federation Family:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> This year’s Washington Seminar was a great success. We had over 500 attendees from 49 states. Representative Bobby Scott, chair of the House Committee on Education and Labor, spoke at the Great Gathering-In. Chairman Scott is the sponsor of the Transformation to Competitive Employment Act. Senators Ben Cardin and Bob Casey, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Representative Mike Thompson all spoke at our Congressional reception. Representative Mike Thompson is the chair of the Tax Policy Subcommittee, and he is the sponsor of the Access Technology Affordability Act.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> We also had a substantial increase in the number of cosponsors for each of our bills. In the House, the Access Technology Affordability Act went from forty-nine to sixty-three cosponsors. And in the Senate, it went from fifteen to seventeen cosponsors. The GAIN Act went from four to thirteen cosponsors. Finally, AIM HIGH went from four to twelve cosponsors in the House. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> We need to keep building on the momentum generated by Washington Seminar. Similar to what we did in the fall, we are going to focus on our legislation one bill per week for the next several weeks. We will begin next week by focusing on the Access Technology Affordability Act (H.R. 2086 and S. 815).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> This legislation removes an employment barrier commonly experienced by blind Americans who cannot afford the high cost of access technology by creating a refundable tax credit in the amount of $2,000 to offset the cost of these technologies.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Please call your representative and two senators and urge them to cosponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act if they have not already done so. For those of you who attended Washington Seminar, you should follow up with the staff person you met with. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> When you call or email, you might say something like the following:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> "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. 815 for Senate calls/H.R. 2086 for House calls], the Access Technology Affordability Act. This legislation removes an employment barrier commonly experienced by blind Americans who cannot afford the high cost of access technology by creating a refundable tax credit in the amount of $2,000 to offset the cost of these technologies. I urge [your senator/representative] to cosponsor the bill. Thanks."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 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. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> It is best to email the specific staff person who handles tax policy for that member of Congress. You can typically get the name and email address of that person by calling the office in question. You can also email Jesa here at the NFB and she will get this information for you. Her email is jmedders@nfb.org. Your calls and emails do make a difference! <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> The goal is to get to 100 cosponsors in the House and 25 in the Senate within the next few weeks. I am certain that if we all work together we can reach this goal.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> If you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 410-659-9314, extension 2218 or email me at jpare@nfb.org. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Congratulations to Craig Capps as well as the Belvedere chapter of the NFB of SC for becoming the newest members of the $100/100 club, as they each contributed $100 to the Rocky Bottom refrigerator/freezer fund. Thus far, we have raised $3670 in contributions and <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>pledges. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day, we raise the expectations of blind people because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want: blindness is not what holds you back. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Final Thought: Transforming dreams into reality: If people tell you it can’t be done, sometimes it is because they were afraid to try.<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>