Congressional Record dated Wednesday, March 3, 1999
                                Senate Section
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Remarks by SARBANES (D-MD) on S. 285: BLIND PERSONS EARNINGS EQUITY ACT
         [CR page S-2228, 77 lines]

                  Attributed to SARBANES (D-MD)

                        BLIND PERSONS EARNINGS EQUITY ACT


  ** Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, today I rise in support of the Blind Persons
  Earnings Equity Act, a bill that will open up a world of opportunities for
  blind persons and greatly improve their lives. Currently, the blind are
  discouraged from working by an overly restrictive provision in the Social
  Security Act that limits the amount of income they may earn for themselves.
  The Blind Persons Earnings Equity Act would raise that earnings restriction
  and lessen the burden of at least one of the many obstacles to employment
  faced by the blind today.

    Blindness has profoundly adverse social and economic consequences, and
  Social Security benefits are needed to offset the disadvantages suffered by
  the blind. However, these same laws that are meant to help, must be revised
  when it becomes clear they are hindering blind persons from joining the
  workforce and discouraging them from becoming fully engaged in society.

    Instead of encouraging the blind to develop job skills and become
  productive members of their communities, the law addressed by this bill
  penalizes them. Once their earnings rise above an amount that is barely
  sufficient to cover the most basic living expenses, their Social Security
  benefits are cut completely. No wonder it is estimated that over seventy
  percent of the employable blind population is either unemployed or
  underemployed.

    This statistic, however, does not represent an unwillingness to work. On
  the contrary, the blind want to work and take great pride in developing the
  necessary skills that enable them to contribute to society.

    I had the honor of knowing personally a great American leader who just
  happened to be blind. His name was Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and for over 25 years
  he led the organized blind movement in the United States. As President for
  the National Federation of the Blind, he moved the national headquarters to
  Baltimore where I had the opportunity to meet him. Sadly, Dr. Jernigan passed
  away last year.

    Dr. Jernigan may have been blind in the physical sense, Mr. President, but
  he was a man of vision nonetheless. In his leadership of the National
  Federation of the Blind, he taught all of us to understand that eyesight and
  insight are not related to each other in any way. Although he did not have
  eyesight, his insight on life, learning, and leading has no equal. Dr.
  Jernigan devoted his life to empowering the blind and encouraging them to be
  active members of society. He fought to improve their access to information,
  education, jobs, and public facilities.

    The overly restrictive earnings cap in the Social Security Act represents
  precisely the kind of unfair law and barrier to employment that Dr. Jernigan
  battled throughout his life. He knew first hand about the devastating impact
  that restrictions such as this could have on the aspirations and hope of
  blind persons already struggling to overcome tremendous challenges.

    Congress itself has recognized the overly restrictive nature of this
  earnings cap. In 1996, we raised the cap for senior citizens with passage of
  the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act. However, the earnings limitation for
  blind individuals was left unchanged. Up until that point, for almost twenty
  years, the same earnings cap had applied to both senior citizens and blind
  persons under the Social Security Act. With passage of the 1996 Freedom to
  Work Act, seniors were encouraged to remain active and continue working, but
  the disincentive to work was unfortunately left in place for the blind.
  Consequently, by 2002, seniors will be permitted to earn up to $30,000, but
  blind people who earn over $14,800 (less than half as much) will lose their
  benefits.

    There is no justification for raising the earnings cap for one group and
  not the other. Why should we distinguish between two groups that for over
  twenty years were treated even-handedly under the law? What has changed to
  cause us to discriminate between the two and encourage one to work while
  greatly limiting the opportunities of the other? By reestablishing parity in
  the treatment of blind persons and senior citizens under the Social Security
  Act, this legislation will restore fairness to this law and will remedy a
  policy that has kept the blind locked out of rewarding, self-fulfilling
  employment.

    Although a small number of blind persons may become newly eligible for
  benefits as a result of this change, their number will be a mere fraction of
  the thousands who do not work because of the disincentive imposed by this
  earnings limit. By enabling these beneficiaries to work, the overall net
  effect of this bill will be to increase payments to the Social Security trust
  funds and bring additional revenue to the Federal Treasury as well.

    I urge my colleagues to support this necessary legislation that will ensure
  the blind are treated fairly under the law and will empower thousands of
  blind beneficiaries to become more engaged in society through productive
  employment.

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End of Document


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