As Congress winds down for the year (expected to adjourn sometime before Thanksgiving until the first of the year) there are many issues that still have not been resolved.  Chief among them is the reauthorization of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which by law Congress must pass this year. There are still nine appropriation bills to be signed by The President, and before Congress adjourns, there are only a small number of bills they will be able to address. 

At this time, Congress is in a phase called “conference.” Discussions are happening behind closed doors that not even top leadership in Washington is privy to, and we cannot intervene. 

Jeremy Scott, TSA’s Government Relations Specialist, has been meeting with several Senate staffers this past week and they all are saying the same thing—the Senators realize how important this issue is to the disability community, but that Congress is just simply running out of time for this year considering all the spending bills that are still left.   

Given the time frame, we can expect one of these three things to happen in the weeks or months to come. 

A.  The Senate passes S. 1248, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act, the week of October 13th and then a conference committee is convened (consisting of members from both the House and Senate) to iron out the differences between HR 1350 and S 1248.  This would be the best case scenario.

B.  Congress forgoes a reauthorization bill and instead would change portions of current law by passing individual amendments.  If this happens the one area that would see the most changes would be in the area of discipline.

C.  The Senate introduces and passes the House bill (HR 1350), which would eliminate the need for a conference committee.  Because the House, Senate and White House are controlled by the same party, this example could happen and would be the most dangerous of all three scenarios

We are closely monitoring the process and will keep our constituents informed of any decisions made regarding this critical bill though the TSA website, so please check back regularly.

TSA, through our grassroots levels, and by joining forces with other disability advocates, has indeed made our voice heard through various effective channels.

We want to express our deep appreciation to those who have participated in action alerts and in other government advocacy campaigns – know that your voice has been heard and will, we continue to hope, make a difference.

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