Please see the email below ACB received from the Department of Transportation concerning air travel.

Dear Disability Advocates:

ACB recently signed onto a joint letter with numerous disability advocacy organizations in response to a letter put out by the American Council on Education (ACE) in May of this year. The letter advocated for a potential pause on the 2026 implementation of the new Title II website regulations. Additionally, the ACE letter to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) expressed concern in carrying out the new regulations as they are written.

Please see the press release below. ACB is listed as a public supporter of the reintroduction of the Transformation to Competitive Integrated Employment Act. The act, introduced with bipartisan and bicameral support, will work to eliminate subminimum wage.

Here’s another opportunity to get involved. Congress, in both the House and Senate, has reintroduced the Disaster Relief Medicaid Act (DRMA). This bill, which has been introduced in several Congressional sessions, works to accommodate people with disabilities who are displaced after a major disaster. The bill will enable Medicaid services to easily move across state or county borders without the complicated and time-consuming burden of applying for coverage that keeps Medicaid recipients from the services they need.

The U.S. Department of Energy has placed a 60-day postponement on the Direct Final Rule for building Section 504. This Direct Final Rule would remove accessibility requirements and standards for new DOE-funded buildings, weakening protections for those with disabilities. 

The 2025 Audio Description People’s Choice Award finalist voting round is being held July 6-20. The winners will be revealed during the 2025 ACB Audio Description Awards Gala, which will take place virtually on November 13 at 7:30 PM ET.

On July 1, the Senate passed its version of the reconciliation package. After a long-night of debate, the bill passed with the narrowest of margins; a tie was broken by Vice President Vance. The bill will now return to the House of Representatives.

The Senate bill includes trillions of dollars in tax cuts. Like the original House version, it includes work requirements for Medicaid recipients and will subsequently cut significant funding to Medicaid services. Advocates should reach out to their House offices when requesting edits to the bill.

The Senate recently reintroduced the Older Americans Reauthorization Act. The reauthorization was slotted to go through in the last Congressional session, but never made it all the way through. Now, in the 119^th Congress, we need to urge Congress to pass the bill. The Older Americans Act, which has been around since 1965, provides various services to people over the age of 60 to ensure they receive needed services.

On Wednesday, June 18, the Senate reintroduced the Older Americans Reauthorization Act. The OAA was last reauthorized in 2020. Congress had worked to reauthorize it in the last Congressional session, but was unsuccessful. ACB follows the bill closely because of the large number of aging Americans who are likely to lose vision. ACB has and continues to advocate for more provisions of the bill to include vision services for the aging community. ACB thanks our affiliate, AAVL, for there strong advocacy on this issue.

As many know, Congress is in the process of passing a reconciliation bill that includes potential cuts to Medicaid services. ACB previously reported that the House had finished its version and passed it onto the Senate to discuss. This week, a draft of the Senate’s version of the bill was released. ACB is now reading through the text to better understand what the potential implications of the Senate version will be. Please stay tuned as we learn more about the new version of the bill.