our funding” and he made sure IL funding was not removed from the stimulus package. Furthermore, when the stimulus package came under fire from fiscal conservatives and other opponents, it was NCIL’s policy team and advocates around the country that wrote, called, and visited with members of Congress to ensure that our funding was protected.
Now that the bill has been signed into law, NCIL is working with members of Congress and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to ensure IL funding is distributed according to Congressional intent.
A meeting has been requested and questions have been submitted to RSA. NCIL will keep the members updated with any new information it receives. In the meanwhile, check the Department of Education’s website for updates on how the Part B & C funds will be distributed. Part C funding is not on the web site now because distribution is still being decided upon. NCIL has been told a decision will be made by the end of the week.
Other provisions in the bill that will have a significant impact on people with disabilities include:
Vocational Rehabilitation
- Vocational Rehabilitation: $540 million for VR State Grant. Unemployment Insurance: Funding is provided to modernize the unemployment compensation program, to add $25 to the weekly benefit, to continue the current up to 33 weeks of extended benefits through December 31, 2009 and to temporarily suspend federal income tax on the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits per recipient for 2009.
- Job Training: $500 million for adult, $1.2 billion for youth services.
Education
- Special Education: $11.3 billion for the IDEA State Grant Program and $500 million for the IDEA Part C Early Intervention Program. $400 million for the pre-school program.
Social Security
- A one-time payment of $250 to people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security, disabled veterans, and other selected benefits. SSA Disability Backlog and Claims: $500 million to help the Social Security Administration reduce the processing time for claims and appeals decisions
- SSA Modernization: $500 million to replace the antiquated National Computer Center.
Aging Services Technology Study & Report
- Provides funding to the Secretary of Health & Human Services to support a study of the use of innovative technologies to assist the elderly, individuals with disabilities and their caregivers throughout the aging process.
Digital-to-Analog Converter Box Program
- Specifies that $90 million of the $650 million must be used for education and outreach, including grants to organizations for programs to educate vulnerable populations, including senior citizens, minority communities, people with disabilities, low-income individuals, and people living in rural areas. The funds can also be used to provide one-on-one assistance for installing the digital-to-analog converter boxes for these populations.
Housing
- Public Housing Capital Fund: $4 billion for building repair and modernization $250 million for a new program to fund energy retrofits of Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities, Section 202 for the Elderly and Project Based Section 8 units to make them for energy efficient. HUD will publish a Notice of Funding Availability shortly announcing details of the program.
- HOME Investment Partnerships: $2.25 billion with $2 billion targeted to fill gaps in approved Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects and jump start these stalled projects.
- Community Development Block Grant: $1 billion to support housing and services to help hard pressed localities. Community Services Block Grant: $1 billion for housing, food, employment and healthcare to serve areas hardest hit by the recession.
- Low-Income Energy Assistance: Not Funded.
- Neighborhood Stabilization: $2 billion for communities to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, vacant properties to create more affordable housing.
- Home Weatherization: $5 billion to weatherize homes of low income households to reduce energy costs.
Healthcare
- Medicaid: An $87 billion increase in the Federal government's share of Medicaid spending (FMAP) which runs from October 1, 2008 to December 31, 2010. Sixty-five per cent of the funds will be given to all states. Thirty-five per cent will be used for additional payments (in the form of a decrease in a state's match) for states with high unemployment rates. Each state will receive a "base" 6.2% increase. A state specific analysis can be accessed at http://www.cbpp.org/2-13-09sfp.htm. There is a "maintenance of effort" requirement which prohibits states from changing eligibility. However there is NO maintenance of effort provision for benefits or services. Therefore it is critical for affiliates and chapters to meet with their State MR/DD and Medicaid agencies, their Governor's office, and State Legislature immediately to urge them to use this increased funding for disability services.
- COBRA: 65% premium subsidy for 9 months.
- Health Information Technology: $19 billion to jumpstart computerized health records.
- Prevention and Wellness: $1 billion to prevent chronic diseases and to increase immunization programs.
- Lead-Based Paint Removal: $100 million - competitive grants to localities and nonprofits to remove lead paint in low income housing
- NIH Biomedical Research: $10 billion for increased research.
- The Act extends a moratoria on Medicaid regulations which are in "final" form (i.e. the school based services/transportation, the targeted case management, and the outpatient rules) from April 1 through June 30, 2009. The bill also contains a "Sense of the Congress" that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services shall not publish any pending Medicaid rule (including the rehabilitative services option proposed rule) in final form.
Academy Director Defends Jerry Lewis, Dismisses “Sufferers”
People with disabilities took to the streets outside the Oscars and protested throughout the weekend (video). Over 2,700 people petitioned the Academy to withdraw the award.
The prestigious humanitarian award was presented to Jerry Lewis nonetheless. Academy executive director Bruce Davis defended the Academy's decision against such “Internet-based protests”, saying Lewis “has shouldered the back-breaking job of organizing, and then leading, an unparalleled three-day fundraising effort on behalf of muscular dystrophy sufferers.”
Lewis was given a standing ovation by the audience and allowed to give a speech in which he said “"For most of my life, I've thought that doing good for someone didn't mean you would receive any commendation for an act of kindness -- until now. This award touches me in the very depths of my soul because of who the award is from, and those who will benefit.”
Give us a break! Contact the Academy and your local newspaper!
Social Security's Economic Stimulus One-Time Payments
Source: SSA website
President Obama recently signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This act provides for the one-time payment of $250 to individuals who get Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security benefits.
We expect everyone who is entitled to a payment to receive it by late May 2009. No action is required on your part. We are currently working on the details regarding how we will issue nearly 55 million one-time payments to our beneficiaries. When more information becomes available, we will promptly post it here (http://www.socialsecurity.gov/payment/). Please bookmark this site and check back regularly.
Who will receive a one-time economic stimulus payment from Social Security? Nearly 55 million Social Security and SSI beneficiaries will receive a one-time payment of $250 each. To receive a payment, the beneficiary’s address of record must be in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands.
When can I expect to receive my one-time economic stimulus payment? We plan to pay all eligible Social Security and SSI beneficiaries by late May 2009, so you should expect to receive your payment no later than the first week of June 2009. The one-time payment will be a separate payment, which will not be included in your regular monthly benefit payment. Read More.
Action Alert: Help Pass the CCA in 2009!
Source: The ADAPT Community
Once again, the power of grassroots advocacy has proven to make a difference! A flood of e-mails to Melody Barnes got the attention of the Obama Administration. We asked that the Community Choice Act (CCA) and other long term service and supports be addressed by his Administration and for them to work with Congress to pass CCA in 2009. They agreed to discuss these issues on a phone call between representatives of the disability community and the Obama Administration, including the Domestic Policy Council, Office of Public Liaison and Special Assistant to the President on Disability Issues.
Now that we have a meeting with the Obama Administration to discuss passing CCA, it’s important that we get Congress working on our legislation. We need people to contact their Senators and Representatives in the House to ask them to sign on as original co-sponsors of the Community Choice Act.
Here are two links that allow you to send an email or fax to your Representative or Senator. If you can, personalize your letter. Tell your own story or the story of someone important to you. Explain why we need to reverse the institutional bias and pass CCA. This is YOUR letter to the people who represent you. After you do this, forward this email and ask other people to respond as well.
It’s important that every Senator and Member of Congress hear from us! Contact your Senators, and your Representative in the House.
Keep up the great work! DON'T MOURN...CONTINUE TO ORGANIZE! CCA in 2009!
Petition to Pass the Twenty First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act
NCIL supports passage of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which promotes better access to technology and the internet for people who are deaf and have hearing loss.
The Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology (COAT), of which NCIL is a member, is fighting for this. They now have an online petition to support passage of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. Sign it now, and spread the word! See who's signed it so far.
Obama Disability Advisor Kareem Dale Seeking Stories of Stimulus Success
Source: Kareem Dale
I am looking for any person with a disability that has gone back to work or been rehired as a result of the economic recovery plan. For example, a company that starts hiring again as a result of the stimulus they are going to receive. The sooner, the better.
This is important and time sensitive. Might as well get use to hearing that over the next 4 years, but the community needs to be organized and ready to respond to things like this to help me facilitate full inclusion.
Kareem Dale
CMS Further Postpones Competitive Bidding Program for Durable Medical Equipmen
Source: CongressDaily
CMS on Thursday said it will postpone the implementation of a competitive bidding rule for durable medical equipment providers until April, CongressDaily reports. Legislation approved in the summer of 2008 delayed the program and required that CMS redo the first round of bidding and provide feedback to suppliers about missing bid information rather than automatically disqualifying them. The interim final rule, issued in January, was set to take effect Tuesday, but CMS moved that date to April 19. The agency wrote in the Federal Register that they need more time to review the rule. The delay was first suggested Feb. 10, and about 550 comments in favor of the delay have been received since that date. The comment period ends March 17.
Harkin Plans Hearings on Enslaved Iowan Plant Workers
Source: Des Moines Register
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa is planning congressional hearings on the growing scandal involving processing-plant workers [with cognitive disabilities] from Atalissa. In the meantime, mental health advocates are calling for a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into government oversight of the for-profit Texas company that sent the workers to Iowa.
"This is pretty close to slavery," Harkin said. "It should shock all our consciences that something like this would go on in this day and age."
For 34 years, Henry's Turkey Service acted as landlord, caretaker and employer for dozens of mentally retarded men sent from Texas to Atalissa to work in West Liberty's meat-processing plant. The men were housed in a former schoolhouse, known as "the bunkhouse." Nine days ago, state officials shut down the bunkhouse, describing conditions there as unsafe and "deplorable."
In return for working 30 to 40 hours per week, the workers received room, board and care in the bunkhouse, plus a salary that, in some cases, averaged 44 cents an hour.
"It looks like indentured servitude," said Peter Berns, executive director of Arc, formerly the Association for Retarded Citizens. "It looks like some of these other situations we've seen in the past involving human trafficking where vulnerable populations have been essentially enslaved." Read More.
College Is Possible for Students with Intellectual Disabilities
Source: US News and World Report, By Jessica Calefati
According to preliminary results of an ongoing Department of Education study, fewer than one quarter of students with intellectual disabilities have participated in some type of postsecondary education. None has completed a degree. There is hope, however, that this will change. New initiatives started late last year will, for the first time, identify, fund, and disseminate information about programs nationwide that help intellectually disabled students gain access to college.
To date, leaders in the field know of about 150 programs, which vary significantly in rigor and structure. The ThinkCollege.net website provides basic information about each known program, but because of provisions in the Higher Education Opportunity Act (which was reauthorized by Congress last summer) and two multimillion-dollar federal grants awarded in December 2008, the number of known programs, the number of high-quality inclusive programs, and the depth of knowledge about both is set to expand dramatically. Not only does the HEOA allow students with intellectual disabilities to qualify for Pell Grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, and the Federal Work Study Program for the first time, it also establishes a new grant program that will fund the development of programs tailored specifically to college students with intellectual disabilities across the country. Read More.
|
February 23, 2009 