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Congressional Schedule
The House and Senate are both in recess gearing up for the November elections. AUCD is still hopeful that Congress will take action on several important issues during the post-election lame duck session besides appropriations. These include the ABLE Act, Disability Treaty (CRPD), and the reauthorizations of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Child Care and Development Block Grant. AUCD also continues to advocate for additional co-sponsors for important legislation that will be reintroduced in the next session of Congress, such as the Keeping All Students Safe Act and the Full Funding for IDEA Act. Strong support for the bills in this Congress will help move the bills in the next Congress. For more information about these and other bills AUCD supports, see the online Action Center.
Polling Data and CRPD
A new poll recently published shows that candidates in tight election races should be supporting the CRPD and other disability issues if they want to get elected! The results say that 83% of Democrats, 61% of Independents, and 50% of Republicans surveyed favor ratification of the Disability Treaty. A non-partisan group, RespectAbilityUSA, contracted two polling firms, one Democrat (Greenberg Quilan Rosner Research) and one Republican (North Star Opinion Research) to survey 1,000 likely 2014 voters about disability issues. The survey was conducted from September 20-24 in states considered "Senate battleground states" - Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and West Virginia. See the results of the full survey on disability issues.
Mid-term Elections: November 4!
While midterm elections (those occurring in non-Presidential voting years) historically result in lower voter turnout, they are important, no matter which candidates you support. It is important for people with disabilities, families, and friends to become informed about how the candidates stand on disability and other important issues. To find out who the candidates are in your state, where to vote, and the state voting rules, see AUCD's Election Info & Guide in our Action Center.
Social Security Disability Insurance
The SSDI Solutions Initiative - an effort of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget - has issued a call for papers to identify ideas to improve the SSDI program. Earlier this month, former Congressmen Jim McCrery (R-LA) and Earl Pomeroy (D-ND) announced the formation of the SSDI Solutions Initiative to identify concrete, practical strategies for reforming the program to make it work better for beneficiaries, taxpayers, and the economy. AUCD's Executive Director, Andy Imparato, serves on the advisory council for the initiative. Paper proposals are due November 1, 2014.
Long-Term Services and Supports
The Administration for Community Living, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Veterans Health Administration have announced awards to 25 states to develop state plans to develop a plan to create a single statewide No Wrong Door (NWD) access system to long-term services and supports (LTSS) for all populations and all payers. Many states are expected to build upon and improve their existing Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC), LTSS access points, and Balancing Incentive Program (BIP) efforts to better serve all populations of individuals needing LTSS
Autism
The Department of Health and Human Services has announced the opening of nominations for public members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee are. The committee was established by the Combating Autism Act of 20016 and reauthorized by the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act of 2014. Those eligible for nomination include leaders or representatives of major autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research, advocacy and service organizations, parents or guardians of individuals with ASD, individuals on the autism spectrum, healthcare and service providers, educators, researchers and other individuals with professional or personal experience with ASD. Nominations are due November 14, 2014.
Disabled Veterans Memorial
On Sunday, October 5, President Obama dedicated the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial, the first national memorial honoring veterans with disabilities. It will be open to the public for the first time today, October 6. For more information on the memorial visit the official website: http://www.avdlm.org/
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For definitions of terms used in In Brief, please see AUCD's Glossary of Legislative Terms.
For copies of this and previous issues of Legislative News In Brief please visit the Public Policy Page of the AUCD website:http://www.aucd.org/template/page.cfm?id=164
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