Rep. Stephanie Bice and Rep. Bryan Steil: We’re making Congress the “People’s House”
Over five million veterans have a service-connected disability and of those, roughly 42,000 have a spinal cord injury. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guarantees that these veterans, as well as millions of disabled Americans, have an equal opportunity to access public spaces like Congress. But unfortunately, that access is not always easy.
Congress has come a long way in meeting ADA accessibility standards, but more work is needed. Balancing the preservation of the Capitol’s important history with contemporary accessibility standards is an ongoing challenge, but we believe that it’s both possible and necessary.
The nonpartisan Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress was formed in 2019 to make recommendations for improving Congress. Before wrapping up its work in 2022, the Committee made just over 200 recommendations, several of which focused on ADA-related concerns. The Committee on House Administration, on which we both serve, is primarily responsible for implementing the Committee’s recommendations. At the beginning of the 118th Congress, we prioritized recommendations to improve accessibility.
One of the biggest challenges that people with mobility impairments face when they visit Congress is a lack of ADA compliant drop-off and pick-up zones. Visitors who use wheelchairs or other assistive walking devices struggle to find parking that can accommodate vehicles with ramps and often get dropped off on the side of busy streets.
Arriving on Capitol Hill should be a welcoming experience, not a stressful (and potentially dangerous) one. Over the past several months, we have worked closely with the Architect of the Capitol to create a new ADA compliant drop-off and pick-up zone with easy access to the Capitol and the House office buildings. Construction is well underway, and the new zone will be ready for use in November.
We also recognize that disabled visitors to Capitol Hill face challenges that extend beyond parking. Security screening is a fact of life in Congress but for people who use wheelchairs or who are hearing or visually impaired, screening processes can be unclear, inconsistent, and may sometimes seem intrusive. To address these concerns, we worked with the Office of Congressional Accessibility Services (OCAS) to first clarify the Capitol’s screening protocols for people with disabilities and then made the protocols publicly available on OCAS’s website. Knowing what to expect helps reduce the anxiety these visitors often experience in the absence of information.
We are also working to ensure that all House websites are fully accessible and compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act so that visually impaired Americans have equal access to the House’s digital resources. The process of bringing hundreds of House websites into compliance is nearing completion as are plans to develop training for congressional staff to ensure that all websites remain compliant.
The U.S. House of Representatives is known as the “People’s House” because it was created to represent the interests and concerns of all Americans. But in order for the People’s House to truly fulfill the vision set forth by the framers, all Americans must have equal access to Congress.
While much work remains, we are committed to making that vision a reality for our veterans and constituents with disabilities.
Rep. Stephanie Bice represents Oklahoma’s 5th District in Congress. Rep. Bryan Steil represents Wisconsin’s 1st District in Congress.
