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Candidate Name: Charles Schumer U.S. Senate

1. While in public office and/or prior to this campaign, what have you accomplished in regard to advancing disability rights? This can include work towards accessible housing, transportation, employment, health care, education, and including people with disabilities in the political process?

    

2. How will you work closely with the disability community to assure passage of vitally needed legislation? What will be your strategy?

    

   I am proud to be a member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over many areas that touch the lives of people with disabilities, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

   Access to high quality care and services that allow disabled New Yorkers to live independently is important. I fought against federal regulations that would reduce Medicaid payments for services for the disabled like rehabilitation and school transportation. In 2008, we prevailed and seven regulations that target services to providers and patients in New York were reversed.

   In 2007, I called for new funding to reduce a nationwide social security payments backlog of more than 730,000 disability cases. At that time, New York had the highest amount of pending cases. As a result of my efforts, new Administrative Law Judges were assigned to the Rochester Social Security Hearing Office, to help ease the caseload across Upstate New York. I continue to monitor the Social Security backlog and help constituents with casework to restore needed benefits.

   Throughout my career, I have been a strong advocate for people with disabilities, including children. More than thirty years ago, Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to help states provide all children with disabilities a free, appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. At that time, Congress set a goal of bearing 40 percent of the excess cost of serving these students. Today, that level of commitment rests at around 17 percent. I recently sent a letter, as I have for many years, to my colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to fund IDEA at the highest possible level in this year's budget. I will continue to fight year after year for full funding until the goal of covering 40% of the costs is achieved.

   I am also a member of the Senate Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over housing issues. I have for many years been a champion of the Section 811 program, which provides housing for people with disabilities. During the 110 Congress, I cosponsored S. 3593, the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008 to streamline Section 811 and improve the program to ensure that adequate supportive housing for persons with disabilities is provided. This is a critically important program to disabled New Yorkers and I am proud to have recently led a letter of almost 30 Senators requesting $300 million in funding for 2011.

   I also supported efforts to support the Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids program by requesting $410 million for HOPWA for Fiscal Year 2011.

   I also promise to continue to work with New York disability advocates and their supporters to make certain that we do more to meet our obligations under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Olmstead decision. My door is always open to any constituents with ideas, concerns or requests for assistance.

    

3. The proposed Community Choice Act would allow persons with disabilities and older Americans equal access to community based attendant supports rather than nursing home placement. Will you sponsor this legislation?

    

   I am a proud original cosponsor of the Community Choice Act (S. 683). I believe that New Yorkers should have an equal choice between home and community-based care and institutional care. Receiving home and community based services at home is usually what people prefer and it is in the long run a cost-saver.

   I was proud to introduce the Community First Choice option as an amendment to the Finance Committee's version of the health care reform bill. During the health reform debate, I fought with Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA), the CCA sponsor, to ensure that the Community First Choice option would remain in the final bill. We were successful, and we will continue to push for the full version of CCA to be enacted into law.

    

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For other candidates running for United States Senate positions, go to the Questionnaires section