Political Quotes

“Madam President, today I recognize Thomas Galyon of Rogers, AR, as this week's Arkansan of the Week for his advocacy work with the Arkansas chapter of the national ALS Association. Tom was diagnosed with ALS in 2014 and has been a tireless advocate ever since. Tom isn't one to let ALS hold him back. In fact, after spending 33 successful years in the tourism industry, Tom decided retirement wasn't for him and went back to work as the property manager for the Center for Nonprofits at St. Mary's in northwest Arkansas. As luck would have it, the ALS Association is headquartered in the very building Tom manages, making his commitment to their organization that much stronger. Recently I had the opportunity to meet with Tom when he came to Washington to advocate on behalf of the ALS Association. We had a long discussion, where I learned about Tom's story and the struggle of nearly 20,000 other Americans who are currently living with ALS. During our meeting, Tom asked me to address the problem that persons with ALS face when seeking disability insurance. I was proud to work with my colleague Senator Whitehouse to become the lead Republican sponsor of the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act, a bill that would waive the 5-month waiting period to receive disability insurance program benefits for those living with ALS. While the waiting period may be prudent in many cases, for ALS it consumes a lot of the remaining life expectancy once you get a diagnosis of ALS.…”