ICYMI: Rep. McBride Talks Affordability, Bipartisan Employment Opportunity Bill on The Julie Mason Show

WILMINGTON, Del. - In case you missed it, yesterday, Delaware's U.S. Representative Sarah McBride (D-Del.) joined SiriusXM's The Julie Mason Show to discuss her new bipartisan bill, the Disabled Access Credit Modernization Act, which would help small businesses offset the costs of recruiting, hiring, and retaining employees with disabilities. Rep. McBride also discussed the affordability crisis and how President Trump's decision to go to war with Iran continues to drive up costs for Delawareans.

Below are key excerpts from the conversation. A full recording is available here.

On Expanding Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities:

Julie Mason: . . . So you're working on some legislation ahead of the 36th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. That's interesting. Do tell.

Rep. Sarah McBride: Sure. Well, I was proud just the other week to introduce the Disabled Access Credit Modernization Act. It's bipartisan legislation that I introduced alongside a Republican colleague of mine to make the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act a reality for more of our neighbors. So your listeners might know that, as you mentioned, 36 years ago, the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by a Republican president, George H.W. Bush, in order to bring down the walls of exclusion for people with disabilities across society, from employment to their ability to get the goods and services that they need to live and thrive. And as part of the ADA, businesses of 15 employees or more are required to make reasonable accommodations to make their businesses more accessible for both employees and customers.

And people often think of this as a ramp to enter or a stall in a restroom that's more accessible. But one of the things that the ADA requires in doing that is those businesses to make those adjustments for employees as well so that we open up employment opportunities for people with disabilities. And to make that something that is more affordable for smaller employers, they passed this tax credit years ago that unfortunately just doesn't cover the full range of needs for employees with disabilities. And so our bill modernizes that tax credit to expand it to include accommodations that folks who are blind or have low vision might need to be able to read screens better to enhance the technology that an office uses for employees who are hard of hearing.

Our bill, which I'm really proud to have introduced with French Hill of North Carolina, would modernize it to guarantee that the full range of reasonable accommodations that smaller businesses have to make to make their spaces more accessible for people with disabilities are truly affordable for those businesses and therefore genuinely available for people with disabilities across our country.

Mason: Wow, that's fantastic. And it seems to me, thinking back, Congresswoman, that the ADA really was an important piece of legislation that really changed things.

McBride: It was life-changing. It fundamentally changed the accessibility of public spaces and private businesses across our country. It has not only opened up goods and services from grocery stores to hotels for people with disabilities, but it also unlocked employment opportunities for people with disabilities. And it's so important that as smaller businesses guarantee that they have accessibility, both physical and other kinds of accessibility, that they're able to do so in a way that is affordable for them and that's why the tax credit was created and it's why we're trying to expand the tax credit so that people with disabilities across different kinds of disabilities, across different accessibility needs are able to have their potential employers or current employers make those accommodations so that they can participate in the workforce and thrive in the workplace.

Mason: I think we see it in ways that we just take for granted now. For example, I'm thinking of braille buttons on an elevator, for example. You know, like things that we just take for granted, like that's just part of the elevator, but it is ADA compliant.

McBride: And you know, when advocates were pushing the ADA in the [1980s] and in 1990, a lot of people, a lot of people said that the ADA was too much too fast. They said that these protections would put too much of a strain on business. They said that it was not necessary. But of course, in the 36 years since it passed, those requirements have become not only everyday realities for us, but they become things that all of us expect. Because when you make a space more accessible for people with disabilities, it becomes more accessible and easier to use for all of us. And so we truly all have benefited from the ADA. And to your point, despite the doomsday scenarios that opponents laid out, it has become so ingrained in our society that the requirements and the expectations laid out in the ADA 36 years ago are just day-to-day obvious expectations that all of us now have.

On Helping Small Businesses Make Workplaces More Accessible:

Mason: As you and I have talked about before, Delaware relies on small business to propel the economy. And it seems to me that over time that that tax credit was insufficient to the needs of small business.

McBride: That's exactly right. Delaware is, we call ourselves a state of neighbors. We are obviously a small state. Everyone knows one another. But we are also, to your point, a state of small businesses. More Delawareans are employed by small businesses than in many other states. And one of the things that I am always trying to do in making the American dream more affordable and accessible for people is to figure out what more we can do to support small businesses. Many of these businesses are operating on thin margins. And obviously, anything we can do to defray any costs that they need to incur to not only abide by federal laws, but to do the right thing, goes a long way in helping those small businesses thrive and grow.

And so this tax credit modernizes that existing tax credit so that it covers things like alternative keyboards or hands-free technology for employees with mobility or dexterity-related disabilities. It allows them to have support if they're making hearing- aid-compatible or amplified telephones for employees who are hard of hearing. And we all benefit when our society is able to tap the talents and full potential of everyone. And so by making it more affordable for these small businesses to employ people with disabilities, not only are they going to benefit by being able to tap the incredible talents that live within our workers with disabilities and communities with disabilities, but allow all of us to benefit from those talents and that potential being tapped by them.

On the Affordability Crisis, the Iran War, and Rising Gas Prices:
Mason: Somewhat along the same lines, I believe you have been traveling around Delaware and talking to the people. And hearing about affordability issues?

McBride: That's without question. You know, we're on our August in-district work period right now. The joy of being here uninterrupted in Delaware for a month straight means that I get to travel across our state. And there is no question that no matter where I am, whether I'm talking to young families or retirees, whether I'm in a bluer area or a redder area, an urban, suburban or rural area of my state, the first, second and third thing that I'm hearing about is the rising cost of living. And quite frankly, the deep sense of betrayal that many voters in my state, 42% of whom voted for Donald Trump, feel from the broken promises that this president has made and broken over the last two years. You know, he said he was going to lower costs and end forever wars. And over the last two years, not only has he failed to fulfill those promises, he has made decisions that have made those crises actively worse. He has started new forever wars and in so doing raised costs. He's implemented these reckless tariffs that have increased costs on working people across the country.

In my home state of Delaware, the average price of gas is now around $4.15 a gallon. Delawareans can't afford this reckless, ill-thought-out, and illegal war of choice in Iran that is not only increasing costs on Delawareans and Americans at the gas pump and elsewhere, but it's actually left us less respected in the world and Iran more geopolitically emboldened than they were five months ago. And so it's been an absolute failure. And I have never seen a presidential decision so clearly tied to a person's pocketbook . . . people who didn't necessarily think about the Strait of Hormuz six months ago are bringing it up to me at the grocery store and bringing it up to me at the gas station and bringing it up to me when I'm out to eat and bringing it up to me when I'm going to a local retail store to visit.

People are bringing this up because they see that this president's decision to go to war in Iran and subsequent actions that have occurred, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, they understand it has impacted their day-to-day lives and it has raised costs for them.

. . .

But we do have a responsibility . . . to make sure that we're doing everything within our power to stop the harm and to lay the foundation for progress now and moving forward. And that's been my focus. I'm proud to be a co-lead of a working group that Leader Jeffries has put together to specifically focus on the cost crisis facing caregivers in our society . . . and we are not going to be able to address the cost crisis that young families in my state are facing, that people across our country are facing, if we don't do all we can as a Democratic Congress to lay the foundation for paid family and medical leave, universal child care and home and elder care that's genuinely quality and affordable for everyone that needs it. We're not going to be able to solve that crisis if we don't make progress on those three major buckets.

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