ABLE Act self-serving

In sponsoring the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers found her inner liberal. Struggling parents with disabled kids can set up tax-exempt savings accounts to cover the care, education, even funeral costs for their disabled kids. What comes to mind is parents with a visibly severely disabled child, in a wheelchair or with Down syndrome, and who could be against that? Who could oppose that?

However, the new law could be used by parents whose children have anxiety issues, or are allergic to peanuts, or suffer from depression, if classified as disabled. Parents can set up tax-exempt savings vehicles in the name of children where before they couldn’t. It might take a while to get from here to there, but remember the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed 1991 with the same good intentions, and the most common invocation of the ADA is for back problems, not those in wheelchairs.

Yes, I’m a Neanderthal, but keep in mind that a 75-pound pig was briefly allowed on a plane the other day as a “service animal.” Bet you didn’t see that coming, either. I wonder how quickly McMorris Rodgers would solve the immigration crisis if she knew an immigrant.

Bob Tattershall

Pullman