[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 33 (Thursday, February 27, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1226-S1227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                ABLE ACT

  Mr. CASEY. Madam President, I wish to discuss the ABLE Act, which is 
a piece of legislation that has been the subject of enormous and 
substantial bipartisan support both in the Senate and in the House.
  We know that a lot of families have relied upon and have really 
benefited from the so-called 529 plans--a section of the IRS Code that 
allows families to save tax-free for education. What we are trying to 
do with the ABLE Act is to replicate that opportunity so that families 
who have a loved one with a disability--it may be one disability or it 
may be more than one, but every family who has a loved one with a 
disability should have the opportunity to save just as they might for 
education in a tax-free manner, in a tax-advantaged way.
  We have been working on this legislation for a number of years. 
Senator Richard Burr, the senior Senator from North Carolina, and I 
have led this effort in the Senate. As I said, it would build upon that 
529 model for education.
  The ABLE Act enjoys the support of 63 Senators, 63 cosponsors. In the 
House, it is up to 335 Members. That is why we mentioned that over 400 
Members of Congress agree. That is why the hashtag #passtheABLEact! is 
important to highlight.
  There are few measures which come before the Senate or the House 
which enjoy that kind of bipartisan support. In the Senate there are no 
more than 5 bills that enjoy the support of 63 or more Senators. We are 
pleased about that, but we are not done yet. We still have a long way 
to go to get this legislation done.
  So as important as it is to highlight the numbers, it is also 
important to highlight the people who did the hard work to get us 
there. I want to commend Members of the House and Senate, but the ones 
who are worthy of even more substantial commendation would be a lot of 
individuals, some of whom are here in Washington this week: The 
National Down Syndrome Society. I was just with folks from the National 
Down Syndrome Society this morning over on the House side. They allow a 
Senator to go across to the House side. Our current Presiding Officer 
knows this, as she served there. Once in a while we get to go over 
there, and they were kind enough to invite us over there this morning. 
They have done remarkable work on this legislation and are continuing 
their advocacy today, even as we speak. We are grateful for their work.
  Autism Speaks is another great organization that has done enormous 
work to bring us to where we are today, and the Arc as well. So many 
Americans know a lot about the Arc, the National Down Syndrome Society, 
as well as Autism Speaks. So we are grateful for that support, but we 
still have a ways to go.
  One of the best ways to ensure this legislation will get over the 
goal line--I don't want to use too many football analogies here--but if 
we are getting close, even if we are in the so-called red zone, we are 
not in the end zone yet. We have a ways to go. But one of the best ways 
to make sure that happens is to talk about the real people that 
legislation like this would affect.
  I mentioned the number of supporters we have, but I didn't mention 
the full name of the bill: Achieving a Better Life Experience. That is 
what the acronym ABLE stands for. But I like to think about it in this 
way as well.
  I have a constituent, Sara Wolff, who is with us here today. She 
knows the rules don't allow me to indicate where she is today, but she 
is very close by, and she is with us today. I am grateful Sara is with 
us because she is a great example of someone who has a disability but 
is very able. She has a disability, but on a regular basis--hour after 
hour, day after day--she finds a way to overcome her disability or to 
manage it as best she can. She is a remarkable speaker. She gives as 
many speeches in a week as I give, and I am an elected official. She is 
well-known in northeastern Pennsylvania where we live. We live in the 
same county, but I live in Scranton and she lives in Moscow. She works 
for the O'Malley & Langan Law Offices. She is a law clerk there.
  But as smart as she is on the law and these issues, probably the most 
significant part of her whole personality is the dynamism she brings to 
issues. She is a dynamic person. She does something few of us do well--
even people who work here as elected officials--because she knows how 
to engage with people. She knows how to deliver a message. She knows 
how to be candid and direct but to do it in a way that is engaging and 
warm and friendly. So once in a while I will take instruction from Sara 
Wolff. But even more than that, I take inspiration from her.
  Sara is someone who is very able and talented and committed, but she 
is among the many Americans--Pennsylvanians in my case--asking us to 
pass this legislation so that if a family such as hers wants to begin 
to save to help pay for a whole range of services for an individual 
with a disability, they can do so in a tax-advantaged environment in 
order to save over time, and do it in a manner that doesn't put them at 
a disadvantage from a tax standpoint down the road.
  So Sara is a great example of why the ABLE Act should pass, and she 
is doing more than her share to make sure that it does pass. So I am 
grateful to Sara Wolff for doing that, and I am especially grateful to 
people like Sara, who like a lot of us at some point in our lives have 
to overcome a tragedy. Sara lost her mother Connie not too long ago to 
a sudden and rapid illness. But she has been able to deal with that 
tragedy and still help us day in and day out to get the ABLE Act 
passed.
  I will highlight one more story and then I will conclude. Angie Cain 
is a 28-year-old who lives in Indianapolis, IN, and like Sara Wolff she 
lives with Down syndrome. Angie has five different jobs and works 5 
days a week. She works paid positions at Kohl's on Mondays and at the 
YMCA on Fridays. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays she volunteers 
for several organizations, including a hospital, a Down syndrome office 
in Indiana, and the Alzheimer's unit of an assisted living facility.
  Unfortunately, like so many Americans with disabilities, Angie is 
unable to save enough to cover her future needs--the same problem I 
just highlighted--if we don't change the law with the ABLE Act. Under 
current law, she must have less than $2,000 in assets in order to be 
eligible for Supplemental Security Income. That doesn't make a lot of 
sense, and that is one of the reasons we have to change the law. Angie 
is, therefore, forced to limit the amount of money she earns and work 
multiple paid and volunteer positions in order to benefit from the 
steady benefits that SSI provides.
  Angie would like to live independently and, at the same time, she 
knows that she has limitations in that regard because without adequate 
savings and income, because of the current state of the law, she is 
forced to live with her family. She would like to be independent. That 
is something we all yearn for at some point in our lives. Angie's 
family is worried about her living and financial situation, especially 
down the line, years from now, when

[[Page S1227]]

her family may not be with her any longer.
  Stories such as Angie Cain's story, the story of Sara Wolff, and 
individuals across the country like Sara and Angie are the reason we 
have to pass the ABLE Act. They don't need a lot of help. They need 
just a tool, one tool in their toolbox, to be able to reach down and 
have the opportunity to have their families save in a way that will 
help them down the road.
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 19 
percent of Americans live with one or more disabilities, 12 percent 
live with severe disabilities, and many of them are unsure about their 
ability to cover their basic expenses in the future because they are 
unable to build adequate savings.
  We talk a lot about how folks should save. We encourage people to 
save for college. We encourage families to do that, and we encourage 
people to save for all kinds of things. Just the principle itself--to 
save and to conserve--is a good one to espouse and to advocate. But we 
have to give, in this instance, families an opportunity to save for a 
loved one with a disability or, in some cases, more than one 
disability. So whether it is Sara Wolff or Angie or others, we have to 
give them an opportunity to do that and give their families that 
opportunity.
  When you see that number of Members of Congress--400--coming 
together, I believe it is not simply a question of whether this will 
pass but only a question of when the ABLE Act will pass. I hope that 
will take place in the next couple of months and that we can get every 
single Member of the Senate and House to join us.
  This is one major thing we could do this year to show the American 
people we get it when it comes to one challenge that a lot of families 
face.

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