View Congress Member / Senator

Name: Bobby L. Rush
Position: House (IL, 1)
Party: Democrat

Staffer: Yardly Pollas
Telephone: 202-225-4372
Email: yardly.pollas@mail.house.gov
Address: 2188 Rayburn House Office Building

Number of Contacts: 12 ( or 0% in support)
Cosponsor in 116th: Yes

Message and Talking Points

Contacts

Sophie Poost writes on 4/30/2019 at 3:44PM:
On 4/30, S. Poost tweeted at Rep. Rush's official twitter and sent an additionall follow up to Lauren and Yardly.

Sophie Poost writes on 4/19/2019 at 12:25PM:
On 4/19, after attempting to call Lauren Citron and spending over 5 minutes waiting for the voicemail, Sophie Poost sent the following email to Lauren Citron and Yardly Pollas and cc'ed Cal Montgomery:

Good Morning Lauren,

I was hoping to hear from you this week with a follow up about Representative Rush???s cosponsorship of the Disability Integration Act (DIA). However, I???m feeling a bit mystified right now as to Rush???s stance on the DIA, due to the lack of consistent or any response from you or your office. You agreed to a follow up this week, so I emailed you on Wednesday, but I never heard back. When I tried to call in the last hour, I was told I was being sent to your voicemail, however after sitting for five and half minutes while the phone rang, I found it safe to assume that I had not actually been routed to your voicemail.

Other members of ADAPT were told by staff at the office that Representative Rush had not committed to cosponsoring the DIA but had committed to looking over the bill. This is entirely false. We have videos where Representative Rush committed to cosponsoring if there were no serious changes to the bill, and when we reviewed the changes with you, you said that you did not see any red flags. Perhaps the staffer was not present for our meeting last week and was mistaken as to what the advocate was asking about. I would be happy to share the video of this exchange with you or any of the staff at your office if there is still confusion as to what was said.

This leaves me wondering if Congressman Rush signing his name to our bill was genuine or if his signature, like disabled lives, seems to mean nothing to him. Maybe you could help me understand why we aren???t seeing action from your office or what the holdup may be.

Thank you,
Sophie Poost
National ADAPT

Sophie Poost writes on 4/19/2019 at 12:23PM:
On April 17, Sophie Poost sent the following email to Lauren Citron (and received no response):

Hello Lauren,

Last week several members of ADAPT, myself included, stopped by your office in DC to ask that Representative Rush agree to be a cosponsor of the Disability Integration Act (HR.555) in the 116th Congress. The Congressman agreed to cosponsor the Disability Integration Act or DIA if there were no serious changes from the last iteration, and after discussing the changes with you in the office that day you said you did not see any red flags. Now that you have had the time to review the legislation, we would like to know when Rep. Rush will be added as a cosponsor.

If you have any concerns or would like to have the Congressman added to the DIA, please reach out to Amy Bos in Representative Sensenbrenner???s office.

Thank you for your time,

Sophie Poost
National ADAPT

Sophie Poost writes on 4/12/2019 at 12:24PM:
On April 8, S. Woodward, S.Poost, and K. Carroll stopped by the office and asked to meet with the staffer. They were provided with the contact information for Lauren Citron and told to email her to set up a meeting. On April 9, several members of ADAPT stopped by the office and asked to meet. They were told no one was available, so they decided to wait. After the Capitol police were called, they were met by Congressman Rush, who agreed to cosponsor the bill once more if there were not significant changes and signed a copy of the bill. Rush then left for a vote. ADAPT members reviewed the changes with the staffer who said she didn't see any serious but she would have to review it more fully. They asked when they could follow up and she said to give her a week. Follow up planned for April 17 with Lauren Citron.

Sophie Poost writes on 4/03/2019 at 10:15AM:
On 4/2 Sophie Poost called, emailed, and submitted an online request to meet on April 9th or 10th. She was told the request was being processed.

Sophie Poost writes on 2/26/2019 at 4:18PM:
On February 26, Sophie Poost updated the staff contact to the correct spelling of Yardly Pollas' name. Then Sophie sent an email to Yardly asking that the legislation be flagged and that the Representative cosponsor the bill.

Ericka Jones writes on 1/29/2019 at 10:30AM:
On 1/28 E. Jones emailed Yardley Pollas asking why the representative had not co-sponsored the DIA.

Ericka Jones writes on 1/10/2019 at 2:53PM:
S. Poost visited this office on 1/9. No staff was available to meet so she dropped off a one pager and received the card for Yardly Pollas (yardly.pollas@mail.house.gov).

Tim Bowman writes on 8/30/2018 at 1:12PM:
On August 30th, 2018, C4CI sent an email to Yardley Pollas (yardley.pollas@mail.house.gov) asking whether Representative Rush would be an initial co-sponsor of DIA if elected to the next Congress.

Bruce Darling writes on 9/27/2017 at 3:30PM:
On September 27th, ADAPT members - as part of the Fall Action Hill Day - provided the office with information about the Disability Integration Act and asked that the Member of Congress cosponsor this legislation.

Bruce Darling writes on 5/17/2017 at 4:45PM:
On May 17th, ADAPT members - as part of the Spring Action Hill Day - provided the office with information about the Disability Integration Act and asked that the Member of Congress cosponsor this legislation.

Stephanie Woodward writes on 4/13/2016 at 11:02AM:
On April 13, 2016 ADAPT members - as part of the Spring Action Hill Day - provided the office with information about the Disability Integration Act which has already been introduced in the US Senate and asked that the Member of Congress become initial cosponsor this legislation in the House.


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