Lexington, killing an entire family of five. Issam and Rima Abbas and their children 13-year-old Ali, 12-year- old Isabella and 7-year-old Giselle were killed on their way home to Michigan from vacation in Florida. Their community was devastated. And among the 7,000 people who attended their funeral was Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who was asked by young friends of the Abbas children why she wasn’t doing something to stop these tragedies from happening. Within a week, Congresswoman Dingell introduced legislation and committed to doing whatever she could to prevent drunk driving tragedies in honor of the Abbas family. Dingell’s legislation calling for drunk driving prevention technology in all new cars passed the House in July 2020 but failed to get the required vote in the Senate. On the two-year anniversary of the Abbas family crash, Dingell pledged to fight again to pass the Honoring Abbas Family Legacy to Terminate (HALT) Drunk Driving Act. Soon, New Mexico’s newly elected Senator Ben Ray Luján agreed to co-sponsor the Senate version of the bill with Senator Rick Scott of Florida. The members of the war room rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Op-eds by victims and survivors sharing their stories and urging Congress to pass the HALT Act were published in key states. Then press conferences and meetings with members of Congress, followed by more meetings, sometimes to stave off last-minute changes that would weaken the bill. Amid the frenzy, the war room met on Thursday nights to catch each other up and encourage each other to keep going. They shared their stories during mission moments. They leaned on each other, dozens of moms, dads, sisters, brothers, spouses and children who had suffered unimaginable loss and survivors who live with the consequences of someone else’s choice every single day. Rana Abbas Taylor, sister to Rima Abbas, and Ken Snyder, whose daughter Katie was killed by a drunk driver, were called upon time and again to speak with members of Congress and the news media – Rana in honor of her five family members and Ken for his technical expertise and connections with the auto industry suppliers, as well as in honor of Katie. Rana even testified before a U.S. Senate Traffic Safety Hearing on the need to require technology in all new cars to stop drunk driving. Across the country, victims and survivors were making their voices heard to their elected officials, local news outlets and on social media. Technology exists to prevent drunk driving and it’s unconscionable to wait any longer. Then on July 1, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the HALT Act as part of the Invest in America Act. A month
later, the Senate passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act with the drunk driving prevention technology provisions included. With the provisions in two bills, one that had passed the House and another that had passed the Senate, the next step was for just one of those bills to pass the other chamber. Finally, on November 5, the House passed the Senate’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and sent it to President Joe Biden to sign into law. The war room came together the next day to celebrate. Senator Luján made a special appearance – his second visit to the war room – to thank victims and survivors for their work on the bill. Luján, whose car was hit head on by a drunk driver when he was 19, said he still sees headlights in his nightmares. But on this day, Luján and his fellow victim survivors had their sights on history in the making. The end of drunk driving was nearer than they could allow themselves to believe just a year ago. On November 15, Alex traveled to Washington, D.C., to witness President Biden signing the Infrastructure Bill into law. Representing more than 1 million victims and survivors MADD has served, Alex told the President, “We are really going to do it, we are going to end drunk driving this time.”
MADD National President Alex Otte and President Biden celebrate the Nov. 15 bill signing at the White House.
December 2021 9
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