NEW ORLEANS —

A local man's fight to change a government program continues in D.C. with the help of Senator Bill Cassidy.

The senator reintroduced the Work Without Worry Act on Friday.

The legislation was inspired by a story WDSU aired about Thibodaux resident Andrew Schlesinger.

Andrew has spina bifida and is on SSI, or Supplement Security Income which qualifies him for Medicaid. But because he's on SSI, he can't have more than $2000 in his bank account.

Andrew has a multiple college degrees and wants to earn more money but cannot, because of the limitations placed by SSI.

So Cassidy authored the bill so people with disabilities can work to their full potential without losing their social security benefits.

"If anyone who knows Andrew or someone like Andrew who wants to work who wants to be able to save money and is told by the government, no if you do you're going to lose your healthcare, it's a gut punch. So we want to help him. Secondly we want to go after federal programs that penalize work," said Senator Cassidy.

Cassidy and Wyden were joined by U.S. Senators Ted Budd (R-NC), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Bob Casey (D-PA).

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