AGAIN THIS YEAR - AND DESPITE some real challenges from Mother Nature - NADE took advantage of the opportunity afforded by having the mid-year Board meeting in the Baltimore-Washington area to visit “the Hill”. On March 12, 1999, Debi Gardiner, NADE Past President, David Lovingood, Long Range Plan Committee Chair and I visited with Ron Haskins, Staff Director of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources. We thanked Mr. Haskins for requesting NADE’s input on HR 631 and for responding to our concerns. (See NADE’s initial correspondence on this legislation in the March/April 1999 Advocate and the “final installment” accompanying this article, letter on page 8). We were reassured to hear that he does not believe the provision which was removed from the bill will be reinstated in the Senate as there is no apparent cost benefit. Next, we spoke with Christopher King, Legislative Assistant for Congressman Jim McCrery (LA). Rep. Jim McCrery was instrumental in having changes to the definition of disability for children included in the 1996 Welfare Reform legislation. Last year his office requested NADE’s suggestions and input on legislation addressing fraud in the disability program. (This legislation never got out of Committee in the last Congress. It has been introduced this year, in a much less comprehensive form, as HR 631.) Debi, David and I used the opportunity of being in Washington to meet Chris King, Rep. McCrery’s Legislative Assistant who is now working on Social Security and Supplemental Security Income issues. We discussed the role of NADE in this area and our past association with Rep. McCrery’s office. We asked to be kept informed as legislation affecting the disability program is drafted and offered to provide assistance as issues emerge. Our final meeting was with Ray Smietanka, Chief Counsel for the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the House Judiciary Committee. Last year, just before our mid-year Board meeting, the House passed the Federal Agency Compliance Act by an overwhelming margin. NADE opposed this bill, and the Senate companion bill, and we expressed our concerns about its impact on the disability program and, particularly, on Process Unification, to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Senate bill was never reported out of committee. The 1998 legislation originated in the House Judiciary Committee. Although it is not expected to be re-introduced immediately it may be brought up again. When Debi, David and I met with Mr. Smietanka, we discussed our concerns about this particular legislation. Mr. Smietanka seemed responsive to our concerns; hopefully, if the bill is reintroduced in the House it will have fewer provisions aimed at changing SSA’s appeals process and which could jeopardize Process Unification. These visits, and the time Kim Hildred, Staff Director for the House Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security, spent with the Board on Thursday evening, afford NADE an opportunity to discuss issues and legislative initiatives with individuals responsible for drafting much of the legislation which affects the disability program--and our jobs!