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Vigorously enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act,
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and other critical
civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination against people with
disabilities in schools, workplaces, and public areas across the
nation. He is protecting these laws from attempts that would weaken
them. |
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Rejecting proposals that would end the Medicaid guarantee
of meaningful health benefits to people with disabilities. The
President has preserved Medicaid coverage for 6 million persons with
disabilities, including 1 million children. Without Medicaid, many
families might be forced into impoverishment to pay for a child's
medical care, give up their jobs to stay home to care for a child, or
pay for placement in an institution. Medicaid is often the only form
of health care available to people with disabilities and allows many
children and adults to receive services at home, rather than in
institutions. |
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Proposing a balanced budget that preserves health care
benefits for 37 million Medicare beneficiaries, including 4.9 million
Americans under the age of 65 with disabilities. The President's
budget proposal imposes no new increases in Medicare premiums, ensures
the fiscal integrity of the Medicare Trust Fund through the next
decade, and saves $124 billion over the next seven
years. |
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Signing the Health Insurance Reform Act
(Kennedy-Kassebaum Bill) which expands and protects access to
health insurance by limiting exclusions for pre-existing conditions
and allowing individuals to take their health insurance with them when
they change or lose their jobs. |
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Fighting to increase the focus of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act on outcomes for children and by cutting
unnecessary paperwork. The Administration opposes weakening the
guarantee of the right to education for children with
disabilities.
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Spurring an increase in home- and community-based
programs. Because of this Administration's greater flexibility in
granting state waivers, the number of people with mental retardation
and developmental disabilities served in home and in community waiver
programs nearly doubled to 122,000 in 1994. |
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Fighting for and enacting the Family and Medical Leave
Act, making workplaces more accommodating to many families that
include a child or adult with a disability. |
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Vetoing a budget bill that would have significantly cut
cash assistance to most families with disabled children on Social
Security -- families who are struggling to care for a child at home
and who face extra costs for home modification, equipment, and income
lost because a parent is unable to work full-time. |
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Enacting the National Voter Registration Act
("Motor-Voter" Bill) and Telecommunications Reform Act, making voting
easier and communications technology more accessible.
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Helping to connect people with disabilities to employment,
educational opportunities, and a full range of public activities by
ensuring that the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements for
accessible bus and rail transit systems and paratransit services are
fully implemented. |
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Offering individuals with disabilities the opportunity to
increase their independence through rehabilitation services and work
incentive programs. |
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Appointing a highly-qualified group of people with
disabilities to high-level, policy-making positions, including many
people from within the disability community. Many of these
appointments are to key positions that are not directly related to
disability.
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