Rep. Cohen Asks for a Vote on Disability Freedom

 

LRFA Discharge Petition is being filed! A Discharge Petition signed by 218 members of the House moves a bill directly to the House floor for a vote!  Tomorrow morning (11/13), Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) plans to file a Discharge Petition for the Latonya Reeves Freedom Act (HR2708) to send the bill directly to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote. Even though a majority of the House signed on as cosponsors of the Latonya Reeves Freedom Act and the Chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was open to holding a hearing, Republican Leadership in the House did not allow the bill to move forward.  That means, even with broad-based bipartisan support, the bill has been “stuck” in Committee. A Discharge Petition is a mechanism the House of Representatives uses when a bill is not able to move through the committee process even though a majority of the members of the House support it.  When 218 members of the House sign the Discharge Petition, the bill bypasses the committees and goes directly to the floor of the House for a vote.Congressman Cohen began the process to initiate the Discharge Petition in October. He intended to file the petition before Congress left for its break, but the House went out of session two days early.  Now that Congress is back in session, Congressman Cohen plans to file the Discharge Petition tomorrow morning. When we get 218 members of the House on the Discharge Petition, the legislation will bypass the committee and markup, going to the House floor for an up-down vote.   If every House Democrat supports the Discharge Petition, we only need to secure the support of a handful of the 15 Republican cosponsors who are still in Congress to move the bill to the floor for a vote. It is almost certain that the legislation would pass the House if we secure enough signatures to move the bill to the floor.  This demonstrates that even when a party doesn’t control the House, it can still advance bipartisan legislation! Although the bill will not pass the Senate during this Congress, moving the Freedom Act to the House floor and getting passed by the House of Representatives in a bipartisan vote would be a major milestone for the bill, our decades-long fight to FREE OUR PEOPLE, and our movement.  It would also demonstrate to Republican Leadership that we are ready to fight for Disability Freedom. How to get involved and help! Ask your Representative in the House to sign the Discharge Petition and vote for the bill when it gets to the floor. Publicly urge Members of Congress to sign the Discharge Petition and publicly express appreciation for the Members who do.  Consider publishing a letter to the editor or a blog post supporting the legislation and Disability Freedom, urging its swift passage in the House.  Explain the importance of this legislation.  We all know people whose lives would be impacted by this legislation.  Eliminating the fundamental alteration defense is a huge step forward for those who cannot currently access services to remain in the community. Pushing back against the ableist idea that some of us are “too Disabled” for freedom promotes the framework that all Disabled people have value and deserve freedom.  Disability Freedom can propel us and our entire movement forward.  We need to communicate that and mobilize our community. Join us in DC to advance the Discharge Petition and support Disability Freedom. ADAPTers are hosting a Legislative Reception with the House sponsor and have begun planning for people to be in DC when the bill would move to the House floor. The legislative reception will be in the Transportation Committee Room, 2167 Rayburn, on November 19th and begin at 5:00 PM. If you want more information email us at: LRFA@adapt.org