NDSC Governmental Affairs Newsline November 18, 2014 Whats Up with ABLE? For several years, NDSC and other disability organizations and their members have been pushing for passage of the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act. The bill introduced last year, in the 113th Congress, would allow individuals with disabilities of any age to save up to $100,000 without endangering their government benefits. The bill was amended at the end of July and several changes were made. Why hasnt the bill passed? There have been disagreements in Congress about cost offsets and about who would be eligible for an ABLE account. In addition, the amended bill would have limited the accounts to SSI and SSDI beneficiaries - individuals whose income was below a statutory level. This issue has been resolved. For members of the NDSC, the primary issue now is how to pay for proposed tax-exempt ABLE accounts (cost offsets) in tax revenue, also referred to as pay-fors. Pay-fors are the items that will be cut out of the budget to allow for something new to be added - in this case, the ABLE accounts. Initially, the House proposed cuts to Social Security benefits for some individuals, to offset the cost for ABLE accounts. Most disability organizations agree that it is inappropriate to cut programs that help people with disabilities to fund another disability program, in this case the ABLE Act. Additionally, since changes have been made to the original ABLE legislation that limits an account to individuals who were diagnosed as disabled before the age of 26, some cross-disability groups have expressed concern about the bill amended in July. What can you do? Contact your Representative and Senators to ask that the ABLE bill (H.R. 647/S. 313) be brought to the floor immediately for a vote, with the caveat that the pay-fors for the bill should not come from disability-related services or benefits. You can find contact information for your legislators at this link: contactingthecongress.org/
Posted on: Tue, 18 Nov 2014 19:49:32 +0000
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