Tom Harkin

I wish to announce that the Subcommittee on Children and Families of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Tuesday, December 13, 2011, at 10:15 a.m. in SD-106 to conduct a hearing entitled…

I rise about the most important job that faces the Senate in the remainder of the year; that is, extending the unemployment benefits for millions of unemployed Americans struggling to find a job. I wish I didn't have to be down here…

I wish to announce that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will meet in open session on Thursday, December 8, 2011, at 9:45 a.m. in SD-106 to conduct a hearing entitled ``Tales from the Unemployment Line: Barriers…

I wish to pay tribute to a much respected and beloved leader in America's disability community, the late Dr. Susan Daniels. Dr. Daniels acquired her disability at a very young age. Though she spent much of her early years in rehabilitation…

As a Senator, I have no greater responsibility than to work to ensure the security of the United States, and I believe the military should have all the tools they need to keep our Nation safe. I support the vast majority of the Defense…

I'm concerned if we continue to allow people with disabilities to be treated like second-class citizens when it comes to transportation access we will not achieve the goals of the ADA and we will not open up the doors to employment to…

I have come to the floor this evening to congratulate the president of the International Association of Machinists union, Tom Buffenbarger, and Boeing's CEO, Jim McNerney, on their agreement today to extend their current contract for 4…

You both have been stalwart protectors of our rights and opportunities.

I thank you on behalf of millions of people with disabilities.

But I think you pointed out the problem. You can hire more, but how are they going to get to work?

In 1991, Senator Tom Harkin recognized the need to help communities of all sizes around the Nation provide mobility to those residents most in need.

Not enough attention has been paid to the issues of public transportation for people with disabilities.

If London can have a taxicab fleet that is 100-percent wheelchair accessible... I can't understand why New York City and other American cities can't achieve the same goal.

I'm just pointing out that we are on the verge of an issue for a city that has an unusually large taxicab fleet... it just gives us a significant point in time to make it mandatory, not optional, that every one of those taxicabs be fully…

I am going to do everything in my power as a U.S. Senator, as a chief sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act, to challenge the blatant discrimination that is occurring in taxicab accessibility.

The unemployment rate is over 60 percent; over 60 percent.

We have not yet achieved equality in access to transportation.

I think it is a throw-back to pre-ADA America that the city thought it was OK to make accessibility optional when they held a competition to design the taxi of tomorrow.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) does not address air transportation because of the Air Carrier Access Act.

The status quo in New York City treats wheelchair users like second-class citizens.

We will not achieve the goals of the ADA and will not open up the doors to employment for everyone who can work and wants to work.

The bottom line is if large cities like New York were to require that their taxicabs be of universal design, wheelchair accessible--not just wheelchair users would benefit.

I think it is a gross injustice that less than 2 percent of the taxicabs in New York City are wheelchair accessible.

This process gets devices to patients more quickly, but sometimes with catastrophic consequences for patients.

As the sponsor of the American's Disabilities Act, now 21 years old, I recognize that these devices often enable individuals to live their lives to the fullest.