{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-warren-announces-reintroduction-of-the-bipartisan-aim-high-act", "Senator Warren Announces Reintroduction of the Bipartisan AIM HIGH Act", "2019-12-18", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "December 18, 2019\n\t\t\t Senator Warren Announces Reintroduction of the Bipartisan AIM HIGH Act \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Bipartisan Legislation Would Improve Accessibility of Higher Education Technology for Students with Disabilities\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWashington, D.C. - United States Senator Elizabeth Warren\r\n(D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP)\r\nCommittee, along with Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Dan Sullivan\r\n(R-Alaska), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), today announced the\r\nreintroduction of the Accessible Instructional Materials in Higher Education\r\n(AIM HIGH) Act to develop voluntary guidelines that schools can use to ensure\r\nthat educational technology is accessible to students with disabilities. First reintroduced\r\nin the House by Representatives Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.) and Joe Courtney\r\n(D-Conn.), the legislation would establish a commission of teachers,\r\nadministrators, and other stakeholders to develop guidelines on accessibility\r\nfor instructional technologies used by colleges and universities. The bill\r\nwould also create a pilot program so that institutions of higher education\r\ncould test these guidelines on a voluntary basis.Currently, not all technologies used at colleges and universities are\r\naccessible to students with disabilities, even though non-discrimination laws\r\nrequire accessibility. Federal non-discrimination laws were drafted long before\r\nthe use of electronic instructional materials and other technologies on college\r\ncampuses became widespread, and they do not contain the performance criteria or\r\nspecifications that are necessary for evaluating the accessibility of\r\nelectronic materials.\"I started out as a special needs teacher at a public elementary school\r\nand ended up as a law professor -- I understand how important it is for\r\nstudents with disabilities to have the tools they need to fully participate in our\r\neducation system,\" Senator Warren said. \"That's why\r\nI am introducing legislation to help colleges select accessible materials,\r\nensuring that we build opportunities for all students to succeed.\"The National Federation for the Blind lends its support to this proposal.\"This legislation is critically important to all blind students and to\r\nme personally, as the father of three children, two of whom are blind,\" said\r\nMark Riccobono, President of the National Federation of the Blind.\r\n\"This issue has been ignored for too long. Blind Americans deeply\r\nappreciate Senator Warren's strong national leadership and advocacy for equal\r\nopportunities for all students throughout higher education, and we applaud her\r\nfor supporting this market-based approach to encouraging technology innovations\r\nto be born accessible.\"The AIM HIGH Act builds on a\r\n2011 report from the federal Advisory Commission on Accessible Instructional\r\nMaterials in Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities, which\r\nidentified the need for guidelines on accessible electronic instructional\r\nmaterials and technologies. Senator Warren and former Senator Orrin Hatch\r\n(R-Utah) first introduced\r\nthe bill in February 2014.Senator Warren has been achampionforstudents,fightingto\r\ncreate more opportunitiesforyoung people and to protect\r\nAmerica'sstudents.\r\n In July 2018, Senator Warren successfully passed\r\ntheFree\r\nCareer and Technical Education for High School Student Actto\r\nrequire states to reduce or eliminate out-of-pocket costs associated with\r\ncareer and technical education programs for high school students with\r\ndisabilities, students from low-income families, and students with other\r\nbarriers to educational achievement such as those learning English.\r\n In August 2019, Senator Warren and U.S. Senate HELP\r\nCommittee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) applauded\r\nthe Trump Administration for finally implementing automatic student debt\r\nrelief to veterans with disabilities after years of pressure. \r\n In July 2019, Senator Warren and House Majority Whip\r\nJames Clyburn (D-S.C.) introduced\r\nlegislation to cancel student loan debt for millions of students,\r\nproviding relief for 95% of student borrowers. They discussed\r\ntheir legislation at a town hall on the campus of South Carolina State\r\nUniversity, a public, historically black college and university in October\r\n2019.\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n###   \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/senator-warren-announces-reintroduction-of-the-bipartisan-aim-high-act"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7533400785177946, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}