Click here to see Senator McCain tell a woman with a disability that he would not support the bill during a town hall meeting in Denver, CO, in early July.

To listen to the remarks from the conference call, click on the link below:

http://www.democrats.org/page/-/audio/calls/072508_disabilities_confcall.mp3

The following are excerpts from the call:

Marca Bristo, former Chair of the National Council on Disabilities (3:58)

"Don't get me wrong. I am glad that Senator McCain may be following Senator Obama's lead on the Community Choice Act, and we strongly urge him to do so. But there are so many other issues facing our country and our community. We have waited for too long over the last eight years for the Administration to act on our concerns.

Bob Kafka, National Organizer for ADAPT (8:23)

"We have asked Senator Obama to support S 779 (the Community Choice Act); he is a cosponsor. We have asked Senator McCain; he has adamantly refused."

Roll Call reports:

Meanwhile, others congregated at the office of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), blocking access to the Congressional suite, which is located in the Russell Senate Office Building.

At least 21 protesters have been arrested throughout the day, according to Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider.

The protest is being led by the disability advocacy group ADAPT, and many of the protesters are in wheelchairs. The group strung up banners and yellow tape around the RNC building on First Street Southeast, urging McCain to support the Community Choice Act, which would give individuals who are eligible for nursing home services or similar care greater access to community-based health services.

Both Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama are co-sponsoring the legislation.

Assembly Republicans defeated a bill that would close the so-called "sloop hole" that allows owners of yachts and private planes to dodge a use-tax by parking the vehicles out of state for the first three months after purchase.

California loses an estimated $26 million a year because of the current law...

Currently, the state is facing a $14 billion budget deficit. To give you a sense of the misplaced priorities, while California Republicans were protecting yacht owners, hundreds of disabled and seniors rallied at the State Capitol to protest 18 percent cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).

Local activists have bombarded the state GOP with calls. When they turned off their phones, they found other ways to voice their displeasure.

As laid out by Erik Eckholm in The Times on Monday, the backlog of applicants who are awaiting a decision after appealing an initial rejection has soared to 755,000 from 311,000 in 2000. The average wait for an appeals hearing now exceeds 500 days, twice as long as applicants had to wait in 2000.

Typically two-thirds of those who appeal eventually win their cases. But during the long wait, their conditions may worsen and their lives often fall apart. More and more people have lost their homes, declared bankruptcy or even died while awaiting an appeals hearing.
[...]
The blame for this debacle lies mostly with the Republicans. For most of this decade, the administration has held the agency’s budget requests down and Republican-dominated Congresses have appropriated less than the administration requested. Now the Democratic-led Congress wants to increase funding to the Social Security Administration, and the White House is resisting.

Follow the link for a lot more.

21 days from today, New Jersey voters will vote on if the state should spend forty-five million dollars a year for 10 years on stem cell research. The funding would go toward advancing medical treatments and attracting leading scientists and research companies to the state.

The New Jersey for Hope political committee is a group of citizen activists, medical professionals, and elected officials who have come together for the purpose of advocating the passage of the public Stem Cell Ballot Question.

Today we are asking help from all who believe in the promise of stem cell research. Support the campaign in New Jersey by contributing $21 today by visiting our website:

www.njforhope.org.

Voting YES offers the best hope we have today for treating and curing diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Stem cells also hold great promise in addressing spinal cord injuries and birth defects. Scientists are making tremendous progress. We want to do everything we can to support this research.

Please support us today so we can keep moving forward towards groundbreaking treatments and cures. Again, New Jerseyans vote for Hope in just 21 days. Please consider contributing $21 today to our campaign to fund stem cell research by visiting www.njforhope.org

Think of elections that have been lost by a narrow margin-what would we give to have a chance to change that? We don't want to look back on New Jersey , the day after the election, and say, it might have been. We almost got half a billion for research-almost? Not good enough for so many who are depending on the treatments and cures that will come from stem cell research.

There are 21 days until the vote: let us use those days. We can make sure our stem cell research supporters know what is at stake, and rouse the State to turn out and vote, this coming November 6th, and stand up for stem cells!

Also, be sure to read a profoundly moving Op-Ed authored by Carl Riccio, a longtime stem cell research advocate and a hero to New Jersey residents who favor stem cell research, that ran in last Sunday's Bergen Record. In it, Carl makes a compelling argument for Voting YES on November 6th. Read Carl Riccio's Op-Ed Here

If New Jersey wins, everybody wins-- cures have no boundaries.

But first, the New Jersey Stem Cell Research Bond Act must pass

Disaboom.com is made for the community, by the community to be the premiere destination for anyone touched by a functional limitation or disability. Disaboom.com offers everything from features on health and living to world news, classifieds and social networking. Disaboom.com is the online community designed to keep you connected and in the know.

Go to Disaboom.com to check out or post events in your area, read up on the latest medical news, write a review on the accessibility of businesses and restaurants or participate in a forum. Your interest and involvement are important to us. Disaboom.com is building this community for you and by you. So log on towww.disaboom.com and join today!

Live Forward.

In 1977, he helped direct a nationwide sit-in that pushed legislators to implement Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act, the world's first civil-rights provision for the disabled. Section 504 was the forerunner of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Section 504 reads:

No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States, as defined in section 7(20), shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by any Executive agency or by the United States Postal Service.

Bowe, who became deaf at age 3, never stopped fighting for people with disabilities. He assisted in drafting the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and continued to train both teachers and students in disability-related issues until his death. During the 1977 sit-in, he said, "Disabled people are first-class citizens and expect to be treated that way."

(Chris Kellerman is an intern in the DNC Internet Department)

Radio Iowa reports:

Harkin says in recent years court rulings have ignored the intent of Congress over who should be protected by the bill and narrowed the definition of who qualifies as an individual with a disability. "As a consequence, millions of people we intended to be protected by the A-D-A, including people with epilepsy diabetes and cancer, are not protected anymore," Harkin says. Harkin says the law has been weakened too much.

Harkin says when laws are written, they don't put in every little detail, that is done in the "report language." But he says the courts have ignored the report language, and Harkin says that's why there is bipartisan support to fix the bill.

At the same time the Iowa Senator has begun talking up these changes, a nationwide bus tour touting the Act has started visiting in the Senator's home state. It's being called the "Road to Freedom" Tour, and it has already visited 32 states since November.

These are good signs, and show a much-needed increased awareness for these issues.

Leading Members of the House and Senate will unveil bills at a press conference tomorrow, the 17th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), to restore the full promise of that landmark civil rights legislation. Recent Supreme Court decisions have narrowly interpreted the definition of "disability" under the ADA - thus making it more difficult for people to avail themselves of the law's protections - even though Congress intentionally chose a definition of "disability" that was broad. The bills being introduced by leading Members of the House and Senate, including Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD), Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), will ensure that the ADA is interpreted as broadly as originally intended by Congress. Who: Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY) Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI) Other Members of Congress John Lancaster, Executive Director, National Council on Independent Living Elizabeth Goldberg, Chair of Epilepsy Foundation Youth Council What: Press Conference to Unveil Legislation to Restore the Americans with Disabilities Act Where: West Front of the U.S. Capitol [Rain Site: Senate Agriculture Committee Room - Room 328A in the Russell Senate Office Building] When: 10:15 a.m. Thursday, July 26th Please note: for questions regarding accessibility for the West Front, please contact Katie Grant in the Office of the Majority Leader at 225-3130. For questions regarding accessibility for the Senate Agriculture Room, please contact Lee Perselay in the Office of Senator Tom Harkin at 224-6201.

Source: Office of the U.S. House of Representatives

“Today marks the 17th anniversary of a truly great day in American history, a day when leaders from both sides of the aisle came together around a commitment to protecting the rights of all Americans. The Americans with Disabilities Act was a milestone in the fight for equal opportunity, full participation in society, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for millions of Americans with disabilities. We are still a long way from making that ideal a reality, but Democrats remain committed to the cause.

“I am proud that strong Democratic leaders like Congressman Steny Hoyer and Senator Tom Harkin have chosen today to commemorate the enactment of the ADA by introducing bipartisan legislation, the ADA Restoration Act of 2007, to restore rights that have been taken away by President Bush’s radical court appointees and by the President’s reckless budget cuts that gut key programs. Now, with thousands of wounded and disabled veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, a new generation of Americans with disabilities demands a renewed commitment to the ADA. Republicans need to follow the lead of Republicans like Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner and Senator Arlen Specter by supporting the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. Together, we can send a clear message that we will not rest until the original promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act is realized and the fundamental rights of all Americans are protected.”

All of this is in the context of a growing debate about a bill that recently cleared a California Senate committee, after being vetoed by Schwarzenegger last year, would double workers compensation permanent disability benefits over three years. Democrats on the committee favored the legislation, while the Republicans voted against it. Business Insurance quotes the sponsor of the bill, Democratic Sen. Don Perata, stating, "We already have enough data showing that permanently disabled workers are not getting their fair share of workers compensation benefits.”

According to California Progress Report:

Insurer profits now exceed workers’ benefits according to a study released on April 30, 2007 by an industry rate setting organization, the Workers Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau (WCIRB). Since enactment of Schwarzenegger’s SB 899 in 2004, insurer profits have totaled $27.7 billion and benefits to workers (including medical treatment, temporary disability payments and permanent disability benefits for diminished earning capacity) have totaled $19.8 billion.

Also according to the report, "Weekly benefits for permanently disabled workers in California are now 4th lowest in the nation."

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and DNC Voting Rights Institution Chair Donna Brazile issued a statement in support of the "Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act":

We applaud the tireless work of Democrats who have developed and sponsored this bill and acted to move it through Committee and we urge the 110th Congress to move quickly to enact this critically important measure. We hope that the Congress will also act quickly provide the necessary funding and call on Republicans and the Bush Administration to support this legislation, which will restore confidence in our Democracy.

The bill, among other things, plans to "fund studies to improve accessibility for people with disabilities and those with language assistance needs."

Congressman Holt's office also isued a press release, stating, "Restoring confidence in our democracy and in our electoral system is a priority that cannot wait. Mandating the accessibility and auditability of elections is essential for voters to have faith that their votes are counted as cast."

The Lakeland Ledger reports:

Beginning in 2004, for example, Congress allowed military retirees who are 50 percent disabled or more to collect both their pensions and disability payments, which previously were subtracted one from the other. That change, an issue known as "concurrent receipt," has provided "significant incentive for retirees receiving compensation to file claims for increased benefits" in order to qualify, a VA budget book says.

Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, has introduced legislation to erase the 50 percent disability threshold for concurrent receipt, a priority for most veterans groups. That might reduce incentives to seek higher ratings, but it would greatly add to the cost.

Some House Republicans suggested in 2004 that the definition of "line of duty" be changed to limit service-connected claims, but they were roundly booed and created a panel to study the disability system instead. A report is expected by the end of this year.

Senator Reid, along with the rest of the Democratic Party, understands the need to honor those who have sacrificed on behalf of this nation. Fixing the disability compensation program so that those with disabilities can collect their pensions, along with their disability payments, is an important step.

The Bush Administration and their cronies continue to mislead the public about the truth behind this science, carving out a policy that is based on the influence of extreme religious right-wing conservative minority, rather than the facts.

Earlier this week, Tony Snow, the Administration's spokesperson claimed:

"The vast majority of breakthroughs right now, virtually all, have involved those other than embryonic stem cells.”

That is a dangerously false claim. A large majority of the American people support this research, and Democrats are committed to crafting public policy based on sound science, not extreme ideology during the 110th Congress.

ThinkProgress compiled a list of the medical breakthroughs that have been made recently as a result of life-saving embryonic stem cell research, breakthroughs with the potential to cure diseases that effect millions of Americans, from those suffering from AIDS to diabetes.

Check out the list, here.

According to the Oakland Press, "The 95 wheelchair seats at the 107,501-seat Michigan Stadium are in the second to last top row or in the end zones, making the action hard to see." As the U-M Board of Regents embarks on a major renovation, the ADA has taken center stage. As the Michigan Daily reported:

"They definitely wanted to resolve this issue, but they didn't indicate how far they would go to do that," [Michael] Harris said. "If they make a good faith effort, we're willing to do so also."

University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said the meeting was productive and the University will continue to discuss handicapped accessibility with the veterans group.

Equal opportunity, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency are basic human rights to which all disabled Americans are entitled. However, as Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean noted in his July statement commemorating the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, "Today's Republican Party has backed away from those ideals, choosing instead to place their favored special interests and partisan politics ahead of the national interest."

The story at the University of Michigan reminds us that families depend on our strong commitment to the rights for millions of Americans with disabilities.