Support for Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act Growing in Congress

Support for the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act (H.R. 647) continues to grow in Congress as more members join the ranks of cosponsors, which now includes 181 Democrats and 173 Republicans, including all nine from Indiana; 31 have joined in 2014. The Senate’s identical version of the bill (S. 313,) has 70 cosponsors (44D, 24R, 2I; 9 joining in 2014,) including Joe Donnelly (D). At this time, Indiana Senator Dan Coats (R) is not a cosponsor.

The Able Act is a bill that will help individuals with disabilities save for their futures, as stated in our recent articles, Support the Fight for Disabled to Achieve a Better Life Experience and Congressman Responds to Disabled Woman’s Fight to Pass Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act.

While Govtrack.us still indicates that the bill only has a three percent chance of being enacted, in our opinion the statistics above would seem to indicate otherwise. With 70% of senators and more than 80% of congressmen supporting the bill, it seems to us that with just a little pressure from the public, this important bill could actually become law.

When we first reported about 31 year old Sara Wolff, who has Down syndrome, and her lobbying efforts to get the ABLE Act passed, her petition on Change.org had gathered 204,000 signatures. As of April 7, 2014, that number has increased to 245,050 supporters, but Sara still needs 54,950 more to reach her goal of 300,000.

If you would like to help make the ABLE Act an law, there are a couple of things you can do.

First and foremost, sign Sara Wolff’s petition on Change.org calling on Congress to pass the ABLE Act this year, if you haven’t already.

Next, SPREAD THE MESSAGE! Click the Share button under the article to post this on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest. Get family and friends to sign the petition and support the effort.

Finally, get the other 30% of senators and 20% of congressmen to cosponsor and support the bill. Click the links below for a list of the congressmen that already support the bill. If your senators or representatives are not on the list, contact them and ask why not. We have also included links to their contact information. (links open in new windows)

U.S. Senator Cosponsors of the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act (S. 313)
U.S. Senators’ Contact Information

U.S. Representative Cosponsors of the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act (H.R. 647)
U.S. Representatives’ Directory
[Note: Unlike the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives does not provide a listing of public e-mail addresses for the elected Representatives. Links to their contact information can be found through the directory.

Thank you for your time and effort in support of this worthy bill. Let’s all help Congress get it right for a change!

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