Action Alert—Please Contact Your Senators to Stop Section 511
Dear APSE members,
TODAY we are asking everyone to make phone calls, send e-mails, and post to social media sites to stop Section 511 from putting more individuals at risk for subminimum-wage employment! As you may know, Senate Bill S. 1356 has been introduced to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). This reauthorization includes two policy changes which threaten to take us backwards in our efforts to increase opportunities for people with disabilities to obtain competitive, integrated employment. The bill is scheduled for a committee vote tomorrow.
APSE has two primary concerns with the legislation: 1) The proposed language in Section 511 contains a statement that individuals served by Vocational Rehabilitation can earn sub-minimum wage. While this language is intended to reduce use of sub-minimum wage, in APSE’s opinion, Section 511 will have the opposite impact, and will codify the use of sub-minimum wage within the Rehabilitation Act; and 2) The bill proposes to transfer the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) from the Department of Education to the Department of Labor (DOL). RSA serves individuals from childhood to adulthood, and APSE is concerned that movement of RSA into DOL, will diminish RSA’s comprehensive scope. In addition, there has been no analysis or study done regarding the impact of such a move, and whether it would increase employment of persons with disabilities. Until such analysis is done, the movement of RSA from DOE to DOL should not occur.
Since the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is scheduled to discuss this bill on Wednesday, we need you to contact and publicize your concerns for the implications of these two policy changes. We are encouraging all APSE members, family members, colleagues, and friends that live in states where their Senator serves on the HELP Committee (see member names below) to call or email their Senator to share the following requests:
I am a voting constituent living in your state and I am respectfully requesting that the WIA reauthorization be amended to:
1) Remove Section 511 of the Rehabilitation Act.
2) Remove the language transferring RSA to the Department of Labor.
We understand this is short notice but we are strongly encouraging everyone to contact their respective Senators by the end of the day. Use the information below to send e-mails and to call your particular Senator’s office.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)
(202) 224-3254
Chief of Staff: Brian Ahlberg
HELP Contact: Andy Imparato
Additional Contact: Lee Perselay
Sen. Barbara A Mikulski (D-MD)
(202) 224-4654
Chief of Staff: Julia Frifield
HELP Contact: Jessica McNiece
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
(202) 224-2621
Chief of Staff: Mike Spahn
HELP Contact: Megan Foster
Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
(202) 224-5141
Chief of Staff: Michaeleen Crowell
HELP Contact: Lori Kearns
Sen. Robert P Casey, Jr. (D-PA)
(202) 224-6324
Chief of Staff: James Brown
Sen. Kay R Hagan (D-NC)
(202) 224-6342
Chief of Staff: Mike Harney
HELP Contact: Ashley Eden
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)
(202) 224-5641
Chief of Staff: Casey Aden-Wansbury
HELP Contact: Momoko "Peach" Soltis
Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-CO)
(202) 224-5852
Chief of Staff: Jonathan Davidson
HELP Contact: Rohini Kosoglu
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
(202) 224-2921
Chief of Staff: Sam Goodsteinsam
HELP Contact: Jen DeAngelis
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
(202) 224-5653
Chief of Staff: Bill Murat
HELP Contact: Nick Dicarlo
Additional Contact: Amber Shipley
Sen. Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT)
(202) 224-4041
Chief of Staff: Francis Creighton
HELP Contact: Joe Dunn
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
(202) 224-4543
Chief of Staff: Mindy Myers
HELP Contact: Jeff Cruz
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
(202) 224-4944
Chief of Staff: Ryan Loskarn
HELP Contact: Kai Hirabayashi
Additional Contact: Bill Knudsen
Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-WY)
(202) 224-3424
Chief of Staff: Flip McConnaughey
HELP Contact: Riley Swinehart
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
(202) 224-3154
Chief of Staff: Chris Joyner
HELP Contact: Steve Perrotta
Additional Contact: Anna Abram
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
(202) 224-3643
Chief of Staff: Chris Carr
HELP Contact: Tommy Nguyen
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
(202) 224-4343
Chief of Staff: William Henderson
HELP Contact: Natalie Burkhalter
Sen. Orrin G Hatch (R-UT)
(202) 224-5251
Chief of Staff: Michael Kennedy
HELP Contact: Hayden Rhudy