FWD: More Jobs for People with Severe Disabilities

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 8/19/2005 7:38 AM
MORE JOBS FOR PEOPLE WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES
Contact: Laura Capps July 29, 2005 202-224-

Sen. Roberts and Sen. Kennedy Introduce Legislation

To Create More Jobs for People with Severe Disabilities

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 29, 2005) To mark the 15th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) today unveiled legislation aimed at reducing the high unemployment rate for people with severe disabilities.

Severely disabled people across this country want and need the opportunity to earn an honest days pay for an honest days work, said Senator Roberts. Yet despite the tremendous progress disabled people have made in the last fifteen years, nearly 78 percent of all severely disabled people in the U.S. today are unemployed.

Government and the private sector must work together to provide all Americans with the opportunity to achieve personal and economic self-sufficiency. Individuals with disabilities deserve the dignity and satisfaction that comes from earning a living wage, said Senator Kennedy. This legislation encourages companies that do business with the federal government to truly open their doors and employ these individuals.

The Employer Work Incentive Act for Individuals with Severe Disabilities will offer eligible businesses that competitively employ people with severe disabilities the opportunity to participate in the performance of federal contracts and receive a procurement advantage.

More than 9.4 million Americans have a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits their life activities (e.g., mobility, communication, self-care, self-direction, work tolerance or work skills). The legislation will expand competitive employment opportunities for those individuals by offering businesses an incentive to employ severely disabled individuals and offer them a both competitive salary and good health care benefits.

Senator Kennedy and I introduced this legislation because we are deeply committed to doing what we can to help severely disabled Americans seek and maintain employment. Now it is the private sectors turn, said Senator Roberts. We challenge the business community to take the initiative and actively work to employ individuals with severe disabilities.

This legislation can help our disabled citizens become full and participating members of their community, while creating the employment opportunities needed to fulfill that dream, Kennedy added. I urge my colleagues to pass this important initiative.

In addition to providing greater employment opportunities to the severely disabled, the legislation will also save taxpayer dollars. If just 94,000or one percentof severely disabled people now receiving federal Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments and related health benefits were to become gainfully and competitively employed, the projected ten-year cost savings to the federal treasury would be more than $45 billion.