Here I am again talking about that famous pink house. That would be Rachel’s Pink House and not John Mellencamp’s. There’s a solution to my obsession: Congress can just Pass the ABLE Act. When last I blogged about Rachel’s Pink House and the ABLE Act, I gave you a little history lesson via the yellow brick road.

Today’s update is this. We have 381 House co-sponsors We have 74 Senate Co-Sponsors.  Advocates have been bombarding House Majority Leader McCarthy (R-CA) and Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and urging them to bring the ABLE Act of 2013 to the House floor for a vote under suspension during this lame duck session. The 113th Congress adjourns on December 12. If the bill is not passed, we start over. We’ve been starting over for about eight years. I’ve spent about eight years of Rachel’s life advocating for this change.

To quote fellow ambassador Kelly Kulzer-Reyes letter to the editor in The Bakersfield California, “Just because my daughter has Down syndrome should not prevent her from achieving her goals. Amelia can work a full-time job, be a productive member of society and pay taxes — but because of these outdated laws placed on individuals with disabilities, people like my daughter are currently being held back in life.” That is the truth for Rachel and Amelia and so many others.

We just finished our 2014 election. The voters spoke. The American people want to see Congress get some things done. As I love to say, they want to see Congress play together in the sand box. So again I plead for Rachel, Heather, Ben, Amelia, Sara and the thousands of others with Down syndrome and other disabilities who have big dreams to achieve. Today, I again say to Congress, please send the ABLE ACT of 2013 to the House and Senate floors for a vote before December 12. Rachel’s got big dreams and we have a few other things to do in preparation for those dreams.  Go ahead now and show the American people that Democracy can and does work. Show them that you can come together and pass a bill that makes sense. The time is now to do the right thing. #passTHEABLEAct and send it to the President’s desk to sign into law. The time is always right to do the right thing!