[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 121 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1634]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        17TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DAVID LOEBSACK

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2007

  Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 17th 
anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I remember when 
this bill was signed into law in 1990. As an Iowan, I was proud to be 
represented in the United States Senate by Tom Harkin who helped lead 
the fight for this important legislation and is a true champion to 
people with disabilities. As an American, I was proud to be a part of a 
country that understood true equality and was unafraid to take steps 
toward achieving it.
  The ADA was one of the greatest victories in civil rights since the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964. The effects of this legislation reverberated 
across the country as those who had been forced into the shadows and 
treated as second-class citizens were brought into the light and 
granted the rights and opportunities they long deserved.
  While we have made great strides, this fight is not over. Justin Dart 
Jr., who was widely recognized as ``the father of the Americans with 
Disabilities Act'' and ``the godfather of the disability rights 
movement,'' once wrote, ``ADA is only the beginning. It is not a 
solution. Rather, it is an essential foundation on which solutions will 
be constructed.''
  This Congress is ready to answer Justin's call to action. I am a 
proud cosponsor of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007 which was introduced 
earlier today by Majority Leader Hoyer. In recent years, the Supreme 
Court has slowly chipped away at the broad protections of the ADA and 
has created a new set of barriers for Americans with disabilities. 
Under the cramped interpretation of the ADA by the courts, a broad 
range of people with physical and mental impairments have been held not 
to be ``disabled enough'' to gain the protections of the law. This is 
not what Congress intended when it passed the ADA. The ADA Restoration 
Act focuses on the discrimination that people experience rather than 
focusing on their ability to prove that they have a disability.
  I'm also proud to be a co-sponsor of the Community Choice Act which 
would provide community-based supports for persons with disabilities 
and older Americans. This legislation just makes sense--it gives 
individuals more options to remain in their own communities, and their 
own homes, rather than having to be placed in a nursing home or other 
institution.
  These bills continue to move us forward and closer to our goals. We 
are building a momentum that will be impossible to stop.
  I encourage all of my colleagues to commit to keep the ADA strong. 
Congress must continue the fight for equal rights for all people.

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