Good morning everyone:
As you may be aware, there is a push to eliminate the Department of Education. While the impetus for this is unrelated to us, the Department of Education houses the state/federal vocational rehabilitation program. At this time, little details are known, but we want to be proactive in advocating against cutting all the funding for these services. We are not advocating for any particular solution or framework moving forward at this time (that will come later) but we want to make sure the funding is not gutted at this point.
Our lobbyist for the IARP SSVE section has drafted a suggested email/message. Please see below; we need people to let their representatives know (House and Senate) that we oppose cutting all funding. Our goal is to flood the offices with comments. They need to hear from their constituents. We have provided links to figure out who your representatives are. We ask that you contact both House and Senate side.
Please see below the instructions and language for our members to reach out to House Members and Senators urging them to oppose any efforts to eliminate the funding for state vocational rehabilitation.
House of Representatives
Our members should follow the link below to identify their Member of Congress via their zip code. If they have two or more possible Members of Congress, they will be prompted to enter their full address.
Note that they will see an email icon under the picture of their Member of Congress. This icon will take them to the Member of Congress' website where they may have to take additional steps to verify their address before they are able to submit a message.
Senate
Our members should follow the link below and select their state from the drop down menu. The page will display both Senators with a link to "contact" the Senators below their photo. This link will take the member to the Senator's contact page where they may have to input more information to verify their address before submitting a message.
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Subject:
Dear [Member of Congress]
As a constituent, I urge you to oppose any legislation or executive order that seeks to eliminate or defund the U.S. Department of Education. Such actions would have devastating consequences for individuals with disabilities who rely on the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) and state vocational rehabilitation (VR) programs to secure and maintain employment.
State VR programs, funded through RSA grants, provide essential support-including job training, assistive technology, and career counseling-to help people with disabilities contribute to the workforce and live independently. Eliminating this funding would strip away these critical resources, increasing unemployment and economic instability for millions. Eliminating assistance for individuals with disabilities to work increases their dependence upon the government for support.
I urge you to reject any proposals that would dismantle the Department of Education and jeopardize the future of individuals who rely on its assistance in being contributing members of society. This would only increase dependence upon government benefits for support.
Thank you for your leadership on this critical issue.
Best Regards,
[Name and Organization]
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Michelle Aliff
Ph.D, CRC, CVE
michelle.aliff@gmail.com[Keller], TX United States
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