[NYABS] Continued

[NYABS Division]

Hi All,

This message is to follow up on an email I sent last week related to
gaining co-sponsors for the Access Technology Affordability Act (ATAA)
(S.815/H.R. 2086).  The Congress has returned to D.C. to continue
their work and it is our goal to have the ATAA included in the next
COVID package.  The National Association of Blind Students is
coordinating the effort to empower student voices for this particular
initiative which is why we need New York Students or recent students
who are now in the workforce to help by sending an email to your House
Representative & our Senators.  The following email is the request
provided to the New York Student Division by Amy Albin who is working
with our state student division from the National Association of Blind
Students.  She also includes a templet to use for when emailing the
staff contacts.  To better help you to contact the appropriate staff
member the following list includes all the tax staffers for the
Representatives from New York, please only contact the office that
represents you because it's important they hear from constituents.
Please also note the only Reps on the bill so far are Thomas Suozzi,
Joseph Morelle, & Jose Serrano:

Rep. Zeldin's tax staffer: conor.carney at mail.house.gov
  Rep. King's tax staffer: tim.ursprung at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Suozzi's tax staffer: conor.walsh at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Rice's tax staffer: kate.chiucchini at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Meek's tax staffer: aaron.jordan at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Meng's tax staffer: mark.olson at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Velazquez's tax staffer: richard.erkel at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Jeffries's tax staffer: zachary.lobel at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Clark's tax staffer: david.dorfman at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Nadler's tax staffer: melissa.connolly at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Rose's tax staffer: hector.colon at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Maloney's tax staffer: charles.williams at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Delgado's tax staffer: jessie.andrews at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Tonko's tax staffer: jeff.morgan at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Stefanik's tax staffer: marek.laco at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Brindisi's tax staffer: jonathan.lipe at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Reed's tax staffer: logan.hoover at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Katko's tax staffer: tristan.southard at mail.house.gov
 Rep Morelle's staffer is abbie.sorrendino at mail.house.gov
  Rep. Higgins' tax staffer: lyndsey.barnes at mail.house.gov

Our Senator's contact information is the following:

Senator Schumer:
Anna_Taylor at schumer.senate.gov and Marisa_Hawley at schumer.senate.gov
Senator Jillibrand:
keith_castaldo at gillibrand.senate.gov

Please copy into the message nyabsdivision at gmail.com so we can act as
any support.  It is important to let these offices know how important
affordable access technology is for us to be competitive in school or
our selected career paths.  If you have any questions/concerns please
never hesitate to contact me!

Justin Young
President, NYABS
585-730-2925


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amy Albin <amyralbin at gmail.com>
 Date: Wed, 27 May 2020 15:00:08 -0400
 Subject: Time Sensitive! NABS Urgently Needs Your Help to Pass the
 Access Technology Affordability Act
 To: jty727 at gmail.com
 Cc: president at nfbny.org, "trishak.nfb" <trishak.nfb at gmail.com>,
nabs.president at gmail.com

 Dear Justin,

 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 your state 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 before
 they all return to DC on June 1. 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 before June 1.

 If anyone is already cosponsoring the bill, we want to thank them
 instead of asking for cosponsorship.


 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
 The senators are the same statewide for everyone, but 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 inyour state?

 Thank you in advance!

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

 Subject: Draft 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, 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).

 <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 22 cosponsors, and H.R. 2086 currently has 91 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)