Say "No" to House’s Cuts to Medicaid and Other Crucial Services for Struggling Americans
House Votes This Week: Please Call Now
May 8, 2012 -- The U.S. House of Representatives has scheduled a vote this week on a bill that would deeply cut domestic programs in order to avoid the across-the-board cuts Congress and the president agreed to last year in the Budget Control Act. This bill is not a fair and balanced approach to reducing the nation's deficit. What is worse, these cuts target people with disabilities and many other marginalized Americans. But you can help! Read This Action Alert>
Help Protect Mental Health & Criminal Justice Collaboration Program
Ask Your U.S. Senators and Representative to Sign Letters Protecting Funding for MIOTCRA Program
March 9, 2012 -- The president’s fiscal year (FY) 2013 budget proposes consolidating the Mentally Ill Offender, Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA) program with problem-solving/drug court grants. This would ultimately jeopardize funding for critical law enforcement training, crisis intervention teams and other MIOTCRA components that help youth and adults get the services they need without coming into contact with the justice system. Your voice can help protect MIOTCRA funding. Read This Action Alert>
Bazelon Update: President Sends Fiscal Year 2013 Budget to Congress
February 16, 2012 -- Earlier this week, President Obama sent to Congress his $3.8 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2013. The plan would reduce spending on domestic discretionary programs by $40 billion, including many federal programs that support the needs of people with mental illnesses. The budget also supports some key investments, plus a few controversial recommendations. Read This Bazelon Update>
House to Vote on Repealing CLASS Act!
Voice Your Support for Long-Term Care
January 30, 2012 -- The U.S. House is preparing to vote this week on repealing the CLASS Act, which otherwise would help people pay for long-term services and supports vital to helping them live independently in their homes and communities if they develop a disability with functional limitations, as is common with aging. Please call your representative to oppose repeal! Read This Action Alert>
Support Keeping All Students Safe from Restraint and Seclusion
January 24, 2012 -- Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2020) in response to a GAO report that found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and even deaths of children -- most of them with disabilities -- as a result of restraint and seclusion in schools. Call your senators to cosponsor The Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2020). Read This Action Alert>
Please Support a National Standard for Essential Health Benefits
Comment Deadline 1/31/12
January 17, 2012 -- In a December bulletin, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed to give states wide discretion to set their own essential health benefits (EHB) standard for health plans sold through the new exchanges. This will likely result in significant disparities in coverage across states. Read This Action Alert>
Bazelon Update: Congress Agrees on Fiscal Year 2012 Funding
Another Mixed Bag
December 20, 2011 -- Congress has passed a $1 trillion omnibus appropriations package to fund the government through the end of fiscal year 2012 (September 30, 2012). Averting a government shutdown, this package provides funding for a broad range of important programs and services, spanning mental health, education, and much more. Read This Bazelon Update>
Stop House's Cuts to Community Mental Health Services (SAMHSA)
November 4, 2011 -- You can help prevent deep cuts that would stifle SAMHSA-funded community mental health services for children and adults and increase unmet needs. Read This Action Alert>
Senate Must Increase HUD's Allocation and Fully Fund Key Programs
Call your senators NOW to oppose the FY12 T-HUD funding bill unless HUD funds are increased.
October 13, 2011 -- The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law thanks our friends at the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) for this important alert. Please Act! Read This Action Alert>
Medicaid Matters: Super Committee Must Do No Harm!
September 14, 2011, updated October 11 -- NEW CALL-IN DAYS, October 12-14. Your calls helped Medicaid and other safety-net programs escape immediate cuts during the debt-ceiling debate. But some lawmakers on the new "Super Committee" already have Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and other important programs in the crosshairs once again. Please call Congress! Read This Action Alert>
Please Vote for Bazelon Center's Comments on SAMHSA "Recovery" Definition - DEADLINE FRIDAY (Midnight EST)
UPDATED August 25, 2011 -- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration seeks comments on a proposed definition of “recovery” from mental health and substance abuse disorders. Tell them the definition must include concrete steps toward service system changes that are necessary to make recovery possible. Please VOTE for Bazelon's Comments at http://bit.ly/BazelonRecoveryDef. Read This Action Alert>
Call Congress Today! Help Us Protect the CLASS Act and Medicaid
July 26, 2011 -- Last week a bipartisan group of Senators called the "Gang of Six" released a new deficit reduction plan that would repeal health reform's CLASS Act and cut Medicaid and other health programs. Read This Action Alert>
Don't Let Them Rob the Vulnerable to Pay the Debt
July 1, 2011 -- The Administration and Congress are negotiating deals to address the deficit and debt. But the proposals would also damage key public programs for low-income children and adults with mental illnesses and other disabilities. Read This Action Alert>
Call-In Days This Week! Save Medicaid for People with Disabilities!
June 14, 2011 -- Join national groups' efforts to stop the cuts (June 14, 15 and 16). Read This Action Alert>
By Tue., 5 PM: Push New Medicaid Rules Supporting Services in Truly Integrated Settings
June 13, 2011 -- The Bazelon Center urges you to support proposed rules (Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waivers) that would help ensure scarce waiver dollars are used to support services in truly integrated settings -- not settings that are institutional in nature! Read This Action Alert>
Stand Up for Medicaid! A Prime Target in Shortsighted Legislative Proposals and Deficit Reduction/Debt Ceiling Negotiations
June 9, 2011 -- As Congress debates the federal deficit and the debt ceiling, Medicaid is extremely vulnerable to cuts and restructuring. Such changes would be devastating for low-income people who rely on the program, including beneficiaries with mental illnesses. The next battle may be the proposed State Flexibility Act (H.R. 1683/S. 868), which would allow states to roll back eligibility, potentially cutting off 400,000 people, about two-thirds of whom are children. Read this Action Alert>
Help Support Mental Health Block Grant Funding Increase for FY 2012
June 1, 2011, updated June 13 -- Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is spearheading a Dear Colleague Letter urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to provide a $14 million increase to the Mental Health Block Grant for fiscal year 2012. Please contact your Senators today to ask them to sign-on in support of the letter! Read This Action Alert>
Call-In for the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act
May 3, 2011- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) allows parents to seek a hearing when their child has been wrongfully denied a free appropriate public education. However, in 2006 the Supreme Court held that parents could not recover expert witness fees. S. 613/H.R. 1208 will restore the right to recover expert witness fees for parents and students with disabilities. Read This Action Alert>
Bazelon Update: Amid Action on 2011 and 2012 Budgets, Congress Debates What to Do About the Long-Term Deficit
April 29, 201, updated June 13 - Legislation funding federal programs for the 2011 fiscal year (which began October 1, 2010)—signed into law after many delays—significantly reduces some programs that help low-income people and those with mental illnesses. However, the final law does not include the draconian cuts discussed at one stage of the deliberations. Read This Bazelon Update>
Tidal Wave of “Reforms” in House Budget Chairman’s FY 2012 Resolution Would Deprive Vulnerable Groups
April 6, 2011 -- Yesterday, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), unveiled his fiscal year 2012 budget resolution termed “The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise.” It calls for $6.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years from President Obama’s budget, to be achieved with major structural changes to Medicaid, Medicare and other important federal programs. Please urge your Representative to oppose this budget resolution. Read This Action Alert>
Senate to Vote on Draconian Cuts to Vital Programs and Services for Vulnerable Americans in Need; Urge a “NO” Vote on HR 1
March 8, 2011, updated March 10—As early as today, the U.S. Senate may vote on the harsh spending bill (H.R. 1), passed by the House of Representatives on February 9, that would finalize fiscal year 2011 appropriations through September 30. The bill would cut approximately $60 billion from vital domestic programs and services. Read This Action Alert>
Budget Cuts, Freezes & Program Consolidations Will Trump Scarce, Modest Increases
February 25, 2011- Congress needs to hear how cuts in the continuing resolution for FY 2011 and the proposed budget for 2012 will harm children and adults with disabilities. Read This Action Alert>
Courts Without Judges = Crisis for People with Disabilities
February 10, 2011 - Today the rights of people with disabilities under important laws are at risk because there aren’t enough federal judges to enforce them. There are currently 101 vacancies, reaching a historic high, with nearly one of every eight seats on the federal bench empty. Action is needed now to urge the President to nominate more federal judges and the Senate to vote on confirmation of 48 current nominees. Read This Action Alert>
Attempt to Repeal Health Care Reform
January 20, 2011 (updated January 24) -- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved on legislation to repeal the landmark health reform law, the Affordable Care Act (Public Laws 111-148 & 111-152), in its entirety. The vote was, however, largely symbolic as Senate Democrats have promised to prevent the bill's passage, and President Obama has declared that he will veto any bill that seeks to repeal the historic health reform law. Read This Alert>
Your Voice Needed Again to Prevent Harmful Proposed SSA Regulation Changes!
December 1, 2010 -- In response to an overwhelming number of comments - many from you - objecting to the proposed use of standardized tests in the proposed revisions to Mental Impairment Listings, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has taken the highly unusual step of asking again for comments on that specific issue. Read This Action Alert >
Social Security Disability Rules to Change--for Better and Worse
Agency Needs to Hear from You Now
November 1, 2010 -- The Social Security Administration (SSA) has proposed changes to the way decisions are made for awarding disability benefits based on a mental impairment. These changes will threaten the ability of people with serious mental illnesses to obtain benefits. Read This Action Alert>
HUD Announces Rental Voucher Funding for Very Low Income Individuals with Disabilities
October 7, 2010 -- Your public housing agency (PHA) may have received funding for new rental vouchers for individuals with disabilities. These vouchers will make the difference between homelessness or institutionalization and independent, affordable housing for 4,300 people. Read This Action Alert>
Children Are Waiting in Jail
Congress Must Reauthorize Long-Overdue Protections for Them
September 20, 2010 -- Congress has only 14 days left to reauthorize critical legislation aimed at avoiding the detention and incarceration of young people in juvenile and adult facilities. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), enacted in 1974, is more than three years overdue for reauthorization. Urge your lawmakers to pass reauthorization this year and sign petitions linked in our alert. Read This Action Alert>
Housing for People with Disabilities is Stuck in the Senate
June 24, 2010 -- Senators need urging to free up legislation that would create more and better-integrated permanent supportive housing for people with disabilities. The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act is stuck in a Senate subcommittee. Its passage in this Congress is crucial to ensure that the housing is built and that the program reforms are enacted. Please help enlist co-sponsors. Read This Action Alert>
What Does Elena Kagan Believe About Disability Rights?
June 21, 2010 -- On Monday, June 28, all eyes will be on the United States Senate, as its Judiciary Committee begins the confirmation hearing for President Obama’s second Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. Senators on the committee will have a unique forum to question Ms. Kagan about her views on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other laws that are important to people with disabilities. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee need to hear now from people with disabilities and their advocates. Read This Action Alert>
Senate Must Act to Restore Medicaid Payment Cuts
June 7, 2010 -- Please help restore critical Medicaid and health coverage stripped by the House from "extender" legislation. Senate action is required to secure needed Medicaid help to states and COBRA subsidies for the unemployed. Read This Action Alert>
House to Vote on Repealing CLASS Act!
Voice Your Support for Long-Term Care
January 30, 2012 -- The U.S. House is preparing to vote this week on repealing the CLASS Act, which otherwise would help people pay for long-term services and supports vital to helping them live independently in their homes and communities if they develop a disability with functional limitations, as is common with aging. Please call your representative to oppose repeal! Read This Action Alert>
Support Keeping All Students Safe from Restraint and Seclusion
January 24, 2012 -- Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) has introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2020) in response to a GAO report that found hundreds of cases of alleged abuse and even deaths of children -- most of them with disabilities -- as a result of restraint and seclusion in schools. Call your senators to cosponsor The Keeping All Students Safe Act (S. 2020). Read This Action Alert>
Please Support a National Standard for Essential Health Benefits
Comment Deadline 1/31/12
January 17, 2012 -- In a December bulletin, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposed to give states wide discretion to set their own essential health benefits (EHB) standard for health plans sold through the new exchanges. This will likely result in significant disparities in coverage across states. Read This Action Alert>
Bazelon Update: Congress Agrees on Fiscal Year 2012 Funding
Another Mixed Bag
December 20, 2011 -- Congress has passed a $1 trillion omnibus appropriations package to fund the government through the end of fiscal year 2012 (September 30, 2012). Averting a government shutdown, this package provides funding for a broad range of important programs and services, spanning mental health, education, and much more. Read This Bazelon Update>
Stop House's Cuts to Community Mental Health Services (SAMHSA)
November 4, 2011 -- You can help prevent deep cuts that would stifle SAMHSA-funded community mental health services for children and adults and increase unmet needs. Read This Action Alert>
Senate Must Increase HUD's Allocation and Fully Fund Key Programs
Call your senators NOW to oppose the FY12 T-HUD funding bill unless HUD funds are increased.
October 13, 2011 -- The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law thanks our friends at the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) for this important alert. Please Act! Read This Action Alert>
Medicaid Matters: Super Committee Must Do No Harm!
September 14, 2011, updated October 11 -- NEW CALL-IN DAYS, October 12-14. Your calls helped Medicaid and other safety-net programs escape immediate cuts during the debt-ceiling debate. But some lawmakers on the new "Super Committee" already have Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and other important programs in the crosshairs once again. Please call Congress! Read This Action Alert>
Please Vote for Bazelon Center's Comments on SAMHSA "Recovery" Definition - DEADLINE FRIDAY (Midnight EST)
UPDATED August 25, 2011 -- The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration seeks comments on a proposed definition of “recovery” from mental health and substance abuse disorders. Tell them the definition must include concrete steps toward service system changes that are necessary to make recovery possible. Please VOTE for Bazelon's Comments at http://bit.ly/BazelonRecoveryDef. Read This Action Alert>
Call Congress Today! Help Us Protect the CLASS Act and Medicaid
July 26, 2011 -- Last week a bipartisan group of Senators called the "Gang of Six" released a new deficit reduction plan that would repeal health reform's CLASS Act and cut Medicaid and other health programs. Read This Action Alert>
Don't Let Them Rob the Vulnerable to Pay the Debt
July 1, 2011 -- The Administration and Congress are negotiating deals to address the deficit and debt. But the proposals would also damage key public programs for low-income children and adults with mental illnesses and other disabilities. Read This Action Alert>
Call-In Days This Week! Save Medicaid for People with Disabilities!
June 14, 2011 -- Join national groups' efforts to stop the cuts (June 14, 15 and 16). Read This Action Alert>
By Tue., 5 PM: Push New Medicaid Rules Supporting Services in Truly Integrated Settings
June 13, 2011 -- The Bazelon Center urges you to support proposed rules (Medicaid Home and Community-Based Waivers) that would help ensure scarce waiver dollars are used to support services in truly integrated settings -- not settings that are institutional in nature! Read This Action Alert>
Stand Up for Medicaid! A Prime Target in Shortsighted Legislative Proposals and Deficit Reduction/Debt Ceiling Negotiations
June 9, 2011 -- As Congress debates the federal deficit and the debt ceiling, Medicaid is extremely vulnerable to cuts and restructuring. Such changes would be devastating for low-income people who rely on the program, including beneficiaries with mental illnesses. The next battle may be the proposed State Flexibility Act (H.R. 1683/S. 868), which would allow states to roll back eligibility, potentially cutting off 400,000 people, about two-thirds of whom are children. Read this Action Alert>
Help Support Mental Health Block Grant Funding Increase for FY 2012
June 1, 2011, updated June 13 -- Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) is spearheading a Dear Colleague Letter urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to provide a $14 million increase to the Mental Health Block Grant for fiscal year 2012. Please contact your Senators today to ask them to sign-on in support of the letter! Read This Action Alert>
Call-In for the IDEA Fairness Restoration Act
May 3, 2011- The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) allows parents to seek a hearing when their child has been wrongfully denied a free appropriate public education. However, in 2006 the Supreme Court held that parents could not recover expert witness fees. S. 613/H.R. 1208 will restore the right to recover expert witness fees for parents and students with disabilities. Read This Action Alert>
Amid Action on 2011 and 2012 Budgets, Congress Debates What to Do About the Long-Term Deficit
April 29, 201, updated June 13 - Legislation funding federal programs for the 2011 fiscal year (which began October 1, 2010)—signed into law after many delays—significantly reduces some programs that help low-income people and those with mental illnesses. However, the final law does not include the draconian cuts discussed at one stage of the deliberations. Read This Bazelon Update>
Tidal Wave of “Reforms” in House Budget Chairman’s FY 2012 Resolution Would Deprive Vulnerable Groups
April 6, 2011 -- Yesterday, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), unveiled his fiscal year 2012 budget resolution termed “The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise.” It calls for $6.2 trillion in cuts over 10 years from President Obama’s budget, to be achieved with major structural changes to Medicaid, Medicare and other important federal programs. Please urge your Representative to oppose this budget resolution. Read This Action Alert>
Senate to Vote on Draconian Cuts to Vital Programs and Services for Vulnerable Americans in Need; Urge a “NO” Vote on HR 1
March 8, 2011, updated March 10—As early as today, the U.S. Senate may vote on the harsh spending bill (H.R. 1), passed by the House of Representatives on February 9, that would finalize fiscal year 2011 appropriations through September 30. The bill would cut approximately $60 billion from vital domestic programs and services. Read This Action Alert>
Budget Cuts, Freezes & Program Consolidations Will Trump Scarce, Modest Increases
February 25, 2011- Congress needs to hear how cuts in the continuing resolution for FY 2011 and the proposed budget for 2012 will harm children and adults with disabilities. Read This Action Alert>
Courts Without Judges = Crisis for People with Disabilities
February 10, 2011 - Today the rights of people with disabilities under important laws are at risk because there aren’t enough federal judges to enforce them. There are currently 101 vacancies, reaching a historic high, with nearly one of every eight seats on the federal bench empty. Action is needed now to urge the President to nominate more federal judges and the Senate to vote on confirmation of 48 current nominees. Read This Action Alert>
Attempt to Repeal Health Care Reform
January 20, 2011 (updated January 24) -- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved on legislation to repeal the landmark health reform law, the Affordable Care Act (Public Laws 111-148 & 111-152), in its entirety. The vote was, however, largely symbolic as Senate Democrats have promised to prevent the bill's passage, and President Obama has declared that he will veto any bill that seeks to repeal the historic health reform law. Read This Alert>
Your Voice Needed Again to Prevent Harmful Proposed SSA Regulation Changes!
December 1, 2010 -- In response to an overwhelming number of comments - many from you - objecting to the proposed use of standardized tests in the proposed revisions to Mental Impairment Listings, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has taken the highly unusual step of asking again for comments on that specific issue. Read This Action Alert >
Social Security Disability Rules to Change--for Better and Worse
Agency Needs to Hear from You Now
November 1, 2010 -- The Social Security Administration (SSA) has proposed changes to the way decisions are made for awarding disability benefits based on a mental impairment. These changes will threaten the ability of people with serious mental illnesses to obtain benefits. Read This Action Alert>
HUD Announces Rental Voucher Funding for Very Low Income Individuals with Disabilities
October 7, 2010 -- Your public housing agency (PHA) may have received funding for new rental vouchers for individuals with disabilities. These vouchers will make the difference between homelessness or institutionalization and independent, affordable housing for 4,300 people. Read This Action Alert>
Children Are Waiting in Jail
Congress Must Reauthorize Long-Overdue Protections for Them
September 20, 2010 -- Congress has only 14 days left to reauthorize critical legislation aimed at avoiding the detention and incarceration of young people in juvenile and adult facilities. The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), enacted in 1974, is more than three years overdue for reauthorization. Urge your lawmakers to pass reauthorization this year and sign petitions linked in our alert. Read This Action Alert>
Housing for People with Disabilities is Stuck in the Senate
June 24, 2010 -- Senators need urging to free up legislation that would create more and better-integrated permanent supportive housing for people with disabilities. The Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act is stuck in a Senate subcommittee. Its passage in this Congress is crucial to ensure that the housing is built and that the program reforms are enacted. Please help enlist co-sponsors. Read This Action Alert>
What Does Elena Kagan Believe About Disability Rights?
June 21, 2010 -- On Monday, June 28, all eyes will be on the United States Senate, as its Judiciary Committee begins the confirmation hearing for President Obama’s second Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan. Senators on the committee will have a unique forum to question Ms. Kagan about her views on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other laws that are important to people with disabilities. Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee need to hear now from people with disabilities and their advocates. Read This Action Alert>
Senate Must Act to Restore Medicaid Payment Cuts
June 7, 2010 -- Please help restore critical Medicaid and health coverage stripped by the House from "extender" legislation. Senate action is required to secure needed Medicaid help to states and COBRA subsidies for the unemployed. Read This Action Alert>