Disability

Having a child with special needs is exceedingly expensive, costing a family roughly $2 million in a lifetime. To give financial planning options to these families, Representative Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) is introducing both the ABLE Financial Planning Act (H.R. 1897) and the ABLE to Work Act (H.R. 1896), coupled with Representative Tony Cardenas’ (D-CA) ABLE Age Adjustment Act (H.R. 1874). These three bills, collectively known as ABLE 2.0, greatly benefit families with special needs children—all without requiring a penny of new government spending.

By creating new savings vehicles on ABLE Accounts, this program lifts legal barriers off of families with special needs and allows them to move towards self-sufficiency and long term financial independence.

The ABLE program—authorized under the same provision that allows families to save in 529 plans for college—permits the families to set aside as much as $500,000 for education and a range of other “qualified expenses” for their child. In doing so, the ABLE program allows these families to plan for their future.

If helping families with special needs children is not reason enough, the ABLE Act also reduces individuals’ need to rely upon public assistance in the long run, for the program incentivizes private savings on the part of families.

This program costs the tax payers zero dollars, increases private savings, decreases individual’s reliance upon the government and provides a simplified financial safety net to American families selflessly supporting special needs children. In a show of support, a coalition letter signed by organizations including: R street, Campaign for Liberty, National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Tax Reform and the Coalition to Reduce Spending has been sent to all members of Congress. A program like this is key to helping families with special needs children and this legislation accomplishes that while not costing the taxpayers a dime.