[real-eyes] money news
- From: "Chip Bloch" <wbloch@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 19:57:53 -0600
I am posting this without comment.
Government resists altering money for blind people
Story Highlights
.Administration says changing denominations would be too costly
.U.S. district judge ruled last week that uniform money violates law
.Government says blind people can use credit or debit cards
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration on Tuesday asked a federal
court to overturn a lower-court ruling requiring the federal government
redesign the nation's paper money to help blind people differentiate between
denominations of bills.
Judge James Robertson of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia ruled last month that the Treasury Department is violating
the law by keeping all paper money the same size and feel, preventing blind
people from distinguishing the amount.
Robertson, in a ruling on a suit by the American Council of the Blind,
ordered the government to come up with a way to tell bills apart.
In its appeal, the Bush administration disagreed with Robertson's ruling
that blind people were denied "meaningful access" to money by the same-sized
bills because portable currency readers exist to help distinguish the bills.
The government also said blind people can use credit and debit cards instead of
cash.
The government also disagreed with Robertson's ruling that making changes
would not impose an "undue burden." The government said that making any changes
to the currency would interfere with mandates to guard against counterfeiting
and would cost too much.
The American Council for the Blind has submitted several alternatives to
the same-sized bills, including embossing, holes punched in the paper or using
different-sized bills for different denominations.
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