Reporter: At a briefing Wednesday, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer was joined by a bipartisan group in the House in support of the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act.  Since the passage of the original Act in 1990, many court decisions have overturned portions of the legislation.  The Amendments seek to restore certain rights to those with disabilities at work and in public places.

Hoyer: We are here today with an alliance as strong and broad as strong and broad as the one that passed the original ADA. Eighteen years ago, on this central challenge to human rights, America made itself the world’s leader and the world’s model. We can do it, we must do it, and we will do it again. Today, in a very short amount of time we will pass through the House of Representatives the Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act. We will be one step closer to the day when the fruits of life in America are at last and appropriately available to every one of us: the right to use the same streets, theaters, or offices, the right to succeed in the workplace on their talent and drive alone.  Every man, woman, and child in America deserves that opportunity. 

Reporter: Several Congressmen acknowledged the original Act’s achievements but said rights need to be reinforced. 

Langevin: The Americans with Disabilities Act was truly one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation of the 20th century. As someone who has lived with the challenges of a disability both before and after the ADA’s enactment in 1990, I can tell you I have experienced first hand the profound transformation this law has created in our society.  You know, before ADA… I was injured in 1980 and I remember clearly what it was like before that.

Sensenbrenner: The ADA is a civil rights act! And, as a result of the court decisions, which will be modified or overturned by this legislation, a disabled person will no longer have to do something that no other person who claims discrimination under the Civil Rights Act of our country has to do, which is to first prove their qualifications and then prove discrimination.

Nadler: The need to restore the ADA to the meaning Congress intended is more clear now than ever… and more necessary now than ever.  Thousands of our brave men and women in uniform are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan with serious injuries, including the loss of limbs, head trauma, and a variety of other life-altering injuries.

Andrews: My neighbors and constituents are worried about the economy.  I would say to them that the bill that we’re about to pass in the House, the bill that we hope the Senate will take up soon and we hope the President will sign is a partial answer to America’s woes because I think on of the reasons we’re not performing as well as we should in our economy is we don’t have our best team on the field. 

Audience: Yeah!

Andrews: There are too many people being told that they can’t be in a company or a bank or a university, or some other workplace not because of their disability, because of somebody else’s prejudice and bias.

Audience: Yes!

Reporter: Hoyer’s hoping the Amendments will be brought to the Senate and eventually signed by the President. For “The Hill,” Ericka Wislewski.