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Harkin Disability Policy Update for February 2005
February, 2005
Table of Contents:
(1) HARKIN QUESTIONS BUSH ON EFFECTS OF SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION ON AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
(2) HARKIN INTRODUCES BILL TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES
(3) HARKIN INTRODUCES BIPARTISAN BILL TO MAKE UNIVERSAL CLOSED CAPTIONING A REALITY
HARKIN QUESTIONS BUSH ON EFFECTS OF SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION ON AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES
Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today wrote to President Bush asking him to explain how the administration’s Social Security privatization proposals will affect people with disabilities. The president’s own Social Security Commission’s calculations assume that disability benefits will be cut the same as retirement benefits. Additionally, a General Accounting Office (GAO) report in the 107th Congress found that all Social Security privatization proposals would require cuts to disability payments. Harkin was joined on the letter by 13 other senators.
“Americans with disabilities are deeply concerned. They do not want to wait until a proposal surfaces that reduces their benefits. We need to know with certainty how the president plans to prevent cuts to these needed benefits,” Harkin said.
Social Security is critical for the 6.2 million Americans that receive disability benefits, and an average healthy 20 year old today has a 30 percent chance of becoming disabled in his or her lifetime. Equally important, people with disabilities rely on all facets of Social Security, including Retirement Insurance when they age out of SSDI, benefits from their parents who have reached retirement age, and Survivor’s Insurance. All the while, Social Security has been able to provide this support at a relatively low cost.
Historically the disability, retirement, and survivor programs in Social Security have all used the same formula. If the president plans to apply different formulas to each, there are many difficult policy issues that must be resolved. Before Congress can begin to consider Social Security reform, we believe it is essential to know how people with disabilities will be affected.
“President Bush says that he has no current plans to cut disability benefits. And I hope that remains the case. Unfortunately, the president’s Social Security privatization plan leaves a lot of questions as to how people with disabilities will be treated,” Harkin said. “We have no details from the president, and I am deeply concerned that he has not thought this through.”
Other senators that signed onto the letter include: Harry Reid (D-NV), John Kerry (D-MA), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Max Baucus (D-MT), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and John Rockefeller (D-WV).
HARKIN INTRODUCES BILL TO SUPPORT COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES
Legislation would increase access for people with disabilities and older Americans
Washington, D.C. – Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today announced that he introduced the Medicaid Community-Based Attendant Services and Supports Act of 2005 (MICASSA). The legislation, co-sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA), would increase access to community-based services and supports to Americans with disabilities and older Americans.
“I strongly believe that it is important to level the playing field and give eligible individuals equal access to community-based services and supports,” Harkin said. “This vital legislation will open the door to full participation by people with disabilities in our neighborhoods, workplaces, our economy, and our American Dream.”
Specifically, MICASSA gives individuals who are currently eligible for nursing home services and institutional facilities equal access to community-based attendant services and supports, and establishes a demonstration project to evaluate service coordination and cost sharing approaches for those eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare. The legislation also provides additional funding to states to help them reform their long term care systems and increase the provision of home and community based services.
“This legislation is needed to truly bring people with disabilities into the mainstream of society and provide equal opportunity for employment and community activities,” Harkin said.
The following Senators co-sponsored the Harkin-Specter legislation: Edward Kennedy (D-MA),John Kerry (D-MA), Joseph Biden (D-DE), Mark Dayton (D-MN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Charles Schumer (D-NY),Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Christopher Dodd (D-CT).
HARKIN INTRODUCES BIPARTISAN BILL TO MAKE UNIVERSAL CLOSED CAPTIONING A REALITY
Legislation builds on 1996 Telecom Act that requires closed captioning of all television broadcasts
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) today introduced bipartisan legislation that will help to ensure that all television broadcasts are accessible to the hearing impaired. While the 1996 Telecom Act requires that all television broadcasts be captioned by 2006, it is estimated that 3,000 captioners are needed to fulfill this requirement. AIB College of Business in Des Moines is the only program in Iowa to train captioners.
Harkin's bill creates a competitive grant program that allows schools that teach captioning to apply for up to $1 million to recruit, enroll, train and aid in job placement.
"More than 28 million Americans, or 8 percent of the population, are considered deaf or hard of hearing and many require captioning services to participate in mainstream activities. This bill will do nothing more than keep our original promise to deaf and hard of hearing Americans that afforded them the same equality and access that captioning provides," Harkin added.
Harkin, whose late brother Frank was deaf, wrote legislation in 1990 mandating that every new television be capable of receiving closed captioning. As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds education initiatives, Harkin secured $500,000 in last year's education spending bill to train court reporters and real-time captioners at the AIB College of Business in Des Moines.
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