Tuesday, February 28, 2012

2012 Buddy Walk on Washington update

The Buddy Walk on Washington begins tomorrow with planning sessions and continues into Thursday with Congressional visits.

Key initiatives being discussed with members of Congress and their staff are:
  1. Sponsorship of the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act (ABLE)
  2. Increasing Down Sydrome NIH Research Funding & Down Syndrome Research Infrastructure
  3. Joining the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus




from the D.A.D.S. National Update:

What’s new in the 2011-2012 ABLE Act?
  • This is the third Congress that the ABLE Act has been introduced and there have been some specific changes that were made to the bill for this Congress. Some of the changes would result in providing more flexibility in the account along with a clear path to bring the accounts to the marketplace. Others have been added to help bring down the costs to the federal budget. Most importantly, all of the changes give the bill a much better chance to passing into law.
  • The resulting "ABLE" account would now fall under the 529 program. That means that the tax free, fraud protection, account limits, reporting provisions and rollover provisions that apply to 529’s would now apply to the ABLE account.
  • A provision was added that suspends the beneficiary’s SSI check during any period of time the account has assets over $100,000. It is important to note that although the payment is suspended the individual does not lose their eligibility
  • to receive the payment, so that when the assets are spent down it can be reinstated.

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