[NJABS-Talk] Super Time Sensitive

[Amy Albin]

Hello Students, this is important and time-sensitive!

I hope that you are doing well during this COVID-19 pandemic. NABS
needs your help to pass important legislation to make access
technology more affordable for blind people, including students.

We need students in New Jersey to contact both Senators and their
individual Representative. This means that each student would contact
three offices. We need as many students as possible to make these
contacts because we need more legislators to sign onto the bill. We
want this legislation to be included in the next Covid-19 relief
package. This means that we need to contact
them right away so that they can learn about the bill, make decisions,
and have their name added to it as soon as possible.

After 4 business days if you do not hear from a certain
representative, please contact that representative again to follow up.
Continue to do this every 4 business days until the representative
cosponsors the bill. Persistence is key!

I have staff contacts for both of our senators and for Representative
Mikie Sherrill. Please note that Senator Booker is already
cosponsoring the bill, so with him or anyone else who is already
cosponsoring it, we want to thank them instead of asking for
cosponsorship.

Senator Booker's tax staffer: veronica_duron at booker.senate.gov
Senator Menendez's tax staffer: jason_tuber at menendez.senate.gov

Representative Sherrill's tax staffer: isaac.loeb at mail.house.gov

To find out who the staff contact for ATAA is for the people who
represent you, please e-mail Jesa Medders   at jmedders at nfb.org or
simply find the general e-mail address for your representatives. To do
this and to make your follow-up phone calls, call the Capitol
Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your representative and their
e-mail address. To find out who represents you:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
We all have Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez but our House
representatives may be different.
To see who is already cosponsoring the bill, these 2 links
S. 815 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/815/cosponsors?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22s815%22%5D%7D&s=4&r=1&overview=closed#tabs
H. R. 2086 Cosponsors:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2086/cosponsors?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22hr2086%22%5D%7D&s=6&r=1&overview=closed#tabs


Below my signature is a draft email that you all can use to ask your
Senators and Representative to cosponsor the bill.

Could you please send such an email right away, as well as help me get
in touch with all other blind students in New Jersey?

Thank you in advance!

Amy Albin
amyralbin at gmail.com
973-223-8044

Subject: Email to Legislative Staff Members

To: staff contact
Cc: Kaloc, Jeff JKaloc at nfb.org, Trisha Kulkarni trishak.nfb at gmail.com,
Kathryn Webster nabs.president at gmail.com, and Team Lead (Justin
Salisbury President at Alumni.ECU.edu or Justin Young jty727 at gmail.com)
Subject: Please Cosponsor S. 815/H.R. 2086

Dear ###,

I am one of your constituents from City, State. I write to
respectfully request that my Senator/Congressman/Congresswoman
co-sponsor the Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA) (S. 815/H.R.
2086). I want this to be included in the next Covid-19 relief package.

<give some background on yourself in order to establish rapport>

The cost of critically needed access technology is out of reach for
most blind Americans. By providing a refundable tax credit for
qualifying purchases, Congress will stimulate individual procurement
of this technology and promote affordability of these tools. The
COVID-19 pandemic has forced many Americans to become much more
dependent upon technology, which has exacerbated the challenges that
blind students, job seekers, and employees were already facing.

This bill already has bicameral bipartisan support. S. 815 currently
has 23 cosponsors, and H.R. 2086 currently has 94 cosponsors. I wish
to see my Senator/Congresswoman/Congressman sign on as a cosponsor.

Will Senator/Congresswoman/Congressman #### please cosponsor this bill?

I have copied Jeff Kaloc jkaloc at nfb.org with the National Federation
of the Blind national office. He is available to answer any detailed
questions you might have.

Thank you in advance,

Your Name
Your Address (where you vote)
Your Contact Info