DISABILITY RIGHTS: Murray Statement on Misguided, Harmful House Bill: “ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017”

Murray: “Immediately reverse course and drop any further attempts to move this bill forward”

(Washington, D.C.) – Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today released the following statement opposing the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 (H.R. 620).

“It’s deeply concerning that at a time when we should be doing everything we can to guard against attacks on the rights of people with disabilities from this Administration, members of the House of Representatives are instead pushing to pass a bill that would severely weaken the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act and make it harder to enforce the rights of those with disabilities in our courts,” said Senator Murray. “I hope my House colleagues on both sides of the aisle will immediately reverse course and drop any further attempts to move this bill forward—but if they don’t, they should know that I will be working hard to ensure it is dead on arrival in the United States Senate, and to continue to stand up for the rights of all people with disabilities.” 

The ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017 is currently pending before the House Judiciary Committee and may, as soon as today, be brought up for full consideration and a vote. Hundreds of civil rights, disability rights, veterans, aging, faith, educational, mental health, labor, and community organizations, including the Vietnam Veterans of America, Paralyzed Veterans Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Easterseals, The Arc of the United States, National Council on Independent Living, Justice in Aging, National Disability Rights Network, and the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, have issued strong statements of opposition against this legislation, stating that it would undermine the landmark civil rights law, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and make it harder to enforce the rights of people with disabilities. 

The ADA is landmark, bipartisan civil rights legislation, enacted in 1990 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. Businesses and the government have had 27 years to come into compliance with the law.

• Letter from 236 organizations in opposition to the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017: HERE.

• More about the ADA Education and Reform Act of 2017: HERE.

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