Steven Holt: “I want to join my colleagues in speaking in favor of enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations…”

“I want to join my colleagues in speaking in favor of enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations, particularly my colleague Steny Hoyer from Maryland, one of the authors of the ADA. And I rise to oppose any efforts to strip the Department of Justice's enforcement of these regulations. My friend from Arizona is correct. It sounds as if we're in parallel universes talking about different things here, but let me tell you what we are talking about. We are talking about equality of opportunity in America. Yes, we want to do all we can to give all possible access to swimming. It is important for all sorts of reasons. We have, in this country, more and more people with disabilities, veterans returning from Afghanistan, people living to older ages. There are many people who can benefit greatly from access to swimming pools. And what we're talking about here is that principle of access, not just what it means for an individual with disabilities but what it means for the American ideal of equality of access. The regulation and the law, itself, talk about a standard of readily achievable steps. ``Readily achievable,'' that's the key point here. Fixed lifts in a swimming pool, for example, are required only where installation is easy and inexpensive. The readily achievable standard has been the governing legal principle for increasing access to facilities since the ADA's passage 22 years ago.…”