In this day and age of people complaining about the federal government, it is worth the time to reflect on all the important rights and policies provided by our government that we count on and take for granted. Despite the noise, the federal government, at least in the past, has reacted to major challenges facing its citizens with empathy, compassion and with actionable legislation.
Passed in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is an excellent example of effective federal legislative action. It continues to impact the lives of over 50,000,000 Americans in a myriad of powerful ways. It has been, and continues to be, a resounding success, a dramatic and permanent move forward in the civil rights of all those affected. With the ADA in place, my wheelchair-using friend lives an independent life and can pursue a graduate degree in person, knowing that every building she enters accommodates a wheelchair.
My Aunt Cynthia, paralyzed by polio from the waist down in 1941, well before the ADA, fought her whole life to overcome the major obstacles thrown in her face using leg braces, crutches, a brilliant mind and an indomitable will.
There are millions of Americans, however, who cannot simply use their indomitable will to overcome discrimination/obstacles as Cynthia did. Marc Riccobono, the President of the National Federation of the Blind, wrote in The Hill: The National Federation of the Blind, the country’s oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind people, has always been determined in our efforts to break down barriers that hinder us from transforming our dreams into reality and living the lives we want. The ADA… has been and continues to be indispensable.
Indispensable.
Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the legalization of same-sex marriage, the 40-hour work week, Clean Air and Water, our highway system, and improved airline safety are all the result of effective actions taken by the federal government. Some routinely complain about over-regulation, and it is a fair complaint in a few instances, but finding examples of it does not remotely justify turning against the importance of federal regulation which so often betters the lives of so many fellow citizens.
Since 2017, there has been an effort, pushed forward mainly by Republican leaders, to weaken the ADA, when current beneficiaries already feel it does not meet their needs as well as it could. As usual, the title of the bill does not hint at that effect: ADA Education and Reform Act (HR 620). The backers point to some examples of frivolous ADA lawsuits by unscrupulous lawyers as a reason to dismantle the power of the ADA. It passed in the House, but not the Senate to-date. Frivolous lawsuits are infuriating and destructive, and there are certainly creative, thoughtful, nuanced ways to eliminate them, but HR 620 takes a sledgehammer to the problem.
President Riccobono writes: The number of violations we encounter daily dwarfs the number of lawsuits. Lawsuits are expensive and time consuming, and we do not pursue them lightly. In most cases, we find acceptable work-arounds and move on. In short, this bill is a solution in search of a problem.
Critics of the bill also point out that, with overly generous timelines to comply after a complaint, the bill removes all incentive to comply voluntarily with ADA requirements.
Although there are a few Democrats who backed this bill in the House, this has been driven by Republicans, and so much of what the Republican party pursues today is a proposed ‘solution’ in search of an authentic problem (e.g. the Biden impeachment hearings). Republicans prefer to avoid addressing real problems in a bipartisan way, because they believe that not solving them can help them in the next election (Over 17 years Jim Jordan bills signed into law: 0 ). HR 620 is another step in Republicans’ effort to deeply cut the effectiveness of the federal government across the board.
My aunt was the granddaughter of a Republican President, and both she and her grandfather would be deeply disappointed by the current Republican Party and their apparent desire to dismantle rather than to govern.
