VOR calls on Congress to exercise caution and level fund DD Act Programs for FY 2010.

For the first time in nearly a decade, Congress will be considering the reauthorization of programs receiving federal funding under the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act (DD Act). 

While the DD Act’s policy endorses residential choice and individual decisionmaking, some DD Act programs, through legislative lobbying, class action lawsuits and other tactics, act to eliminate one of those choices – Medicaid-certified and funded Intermediate Care Facilities for Persons with Mental Retardation (ICFs/MR).

VOR opposes S. 683, the Community Choice Act of 2009, introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), and H.R. 1670, introduced by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL). In past years, this legislation was called MiCASSA. If passed, the unintended effect of this legislation will be the elimination of necessary services for citizens with severe and profound mental retardation.

As part of the new Obama Administration's transition efforts, in January 2009, VOR submitted its Policy Recommendations in support of a full array of residential and support options for people with intellectual disabilities (formerly "mental retardation") and developmental disabilities.