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May 2, 2025 | Vol. MMXXV | Issue 110 |
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President's Budget |
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The President has released a budget proposing to cut more than $163 billion from non-defense programs. These proposed cuts are unprecedented in their scope and depth. They are in line with the proposed cuts to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reflected in the leaked passback of the President’s budget, which we wrote about in a previous edition of Disability Policy News. AUCD will monitor as more details emerge about the budget and its potential effects on Network members and people with disabilities.
The President’s budget proposal is not legislative text, but is required by law to be submitted annually. It communicates the Executive’s policy priorities and budgetary goals to Congress, and is a set of recommendations that Congress can follow, but is not required to implement. |
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Plain Language |
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The President writes a budget that they have to send to Congress every year. This budget shows how much money they want to give to different parts of the government. It is not a law. The Administration wrote a draft budget, which means it is not final yet, that shows they want to make billions in cuts. They want to take money away from many government programs that support people with disabilities and their families. This budget is not a law. |
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Reconciliation |
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In the House of Representatives, Republicans have begun marking up their reconciliation package. These are the committees that have started to mark up their pieces of the reconciliation bill with some description of what they are working on:
The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to start their markup next week and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is tasked with cutting $880 billion, is expected to start marking up its portion of the reconciliation bill the week of May 12. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wants to bring the bill to the floor for a vote by Memorial Day, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that July 4 is the new deadline to pass the bill.
Congressional Republicans in the House Energy and Commerce Committee are considering a number of proposals to cut Medicaid, including federal caps on the Medicaid expansion populations in each state and establishing either optional or mandatory work requirements. |
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Key Takeaways |
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Congressional Republicans want to cut into safety net programs to extend the Trump tax package from his first term, which gave massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, and increased immigration enforcement. Because of pushback from people with disabilities, older adults, healthcare providers, and many more advocates, Congressional Republicans are feeling pressure to limit their proposals to cut Medicaid. This pushback is likely the reason why the House Energy and Commerce Committee is delaying its expected markup date by a week, these proposals are not yet concrete, and the White House is now proposing to decrease drug prices as an option to avoid cutting Medicaid.
As Congressional Republicans plan to make changes to Medicaid, it is vital that people let their Members of Congress know how detrimental any cuts to Medicaid would be. These cuts might be in the form of work requirements, per capita caps, decreasing the federal match, and beyond—they would all have negative consequences for people with disabilities.
Read AUCD’s Medicaid fact sheet and talking points.
Read Answers to FAQ on Medicaid and Budget Reconciliation Proposals from the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) and the Disability and Aging Collaborative here.
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Plain Language |
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Congress is in the middle of a long process of passing bills that affect how the government spends money, which is called reconciliation. Committees are groups of lawmakers who work on a particular issue, like health care or farming. Some lawmakers are talking about taking money away from Medicaid. AUCD and other organizations will work to protect Medicaid.
- Action Item - Right now, people should let Members of Congress know how important Medicaid is for people with disabilities and their families. They can use this link to call them and talk about how Medicaid helps people get home and community-based services, employment support, and more. If you have a personal story, it is really helpful to share! Here is some more information about Medicaid in plain language.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
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Letters to Secretary Kennedy on ACL Elimination - Twenty-two Senators sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the proposed elimination of the Administration for Community Living (ACL). Fifty-five Representatives also sent a letter to Secretary Kennedy on the ACL closure. Both letters stated strong opposition to the closure, cited the importance of the agency in supporting people with disabilities to live in the community, and requested answers from Secretary Kennedy regarding the decision to close ACL and how people with disabilities and older adults would be supported by other HHS departments.
The letter from House Democrats specifically cited the requirement for ACL to fund and oversee disability programs “under the Developmental Disabilities Act to support people with disabilities and their families through the State Councils on Developmental Disabilities and University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), and to protect people with disabilities from abuse and neglect through the Protection & Advocacy programs.”
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ACL Resolution of Inquiry Markup - The House Committee on Education and the Workforce was scheduled to mark up a Resolution of Inquiry (H.Res. 344) into the dismantling of ACL. Committee Republicans decided not to bring the Resolution to committee markup because of changes to House rules (H.J. Res 60) that concern Resolutions of Inquiry addressed to the head of an executive department.
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Civil Rights Office Closure - The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will close its Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights. This office develops civil rights compliance policy for staff at CMS and makes recommendations to leadership on how to promote that policy.
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Upcoming Hearing on Nominations - On Thursday, May 8 at 10:00 AM, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing to consider the nominations of James O'Neill to be Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and Janette Nesheiwat to be Medical Director in the Regular Corps of the Public Health Service and to be Surgeon General of the Public Health Service.
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Key Takeaways |
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These letters show strong support from lawmakers to speak out on behalf of ACL and its programs. The language in both letters demonstrates the importance of fighting on behalf of all DD Act programs as well as the large number of programs in ACL that serve people with disabilities and older adults. The House letter notes that a previously leaked HHS budget draft proposes “the elimination of ACL’s Aging Programs, Nutrition and Disability Services Programs, and the NIDILRR [National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research] and the UCEDDs. It also calls for the elimination of discretionary funding for the Aging and Disability Resource Centers and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program.” The lawmakers ask, “what concrete steps will be taken to address the critical needs these programs currently meet for individuals with disabilities, older adults, and their families?”
You can read Senator Gillibrand’s press release on the letter here. You can read Representative Schakowsky’s press release on the letter here.
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The ACL Resolution of Inquiry demands more information from Secretary Kennedy on changes to ACL, including all communications from President Trump and Secretary Kennedy about eliminating ACL and “evidence of actions showing that laws governing ACL’s congressionally mandated work will still be followed.” House Republicans rule changes appear to be a way of shielding the current Administration from oversight efforts. The blockage of this Resolution is concerning, as Committee Republicans do not seem to offer any other method of investigating the ACL closure and the potentially devastating effects that closure will have on people with disabilities and older adults. You can watch discussion of the ACL Resolution here, from 7:54:37 to 7:58:45. You can read Education and Workforce Democrats’ press release here.
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The CMS office closure is in line with the Administration’s dismissal of civil rights and work it considers to be discriminatory because it is geared towards equality and equity. This particular office is responsible for providing leadership and advice on how to promote reasonable accommodation and representation of minority groups, including people with disabilities, throughout CMS.
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Plain Language |
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The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). They do a lot of work that affects people with disabilities, including helping people live in the community and making sure people with disabilities can go to the doctor’s office and get healthcare just like nondisabled people. They help keep people with disabilities healthy. The Trump Administration decided to close the Administration for Community Living.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives and in the Senate both sent letters to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. asking for more information and telling him that closing ACL would be bad for people with disabilities and older adults.
Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) and Bobby Scott (D-VA) made a formal request for Secretary Kennedy to give them information about how this decision was made. Republicans in the House of Representatives changed some rules to avoid voting on this request.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will close its Office of Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights. This office does a lot to make sure people working at CMS know what their rights are and have good options for workplace accommodations. Accommodations are changes or tools that help people with disabilities succeed at work.
On Thursday, May 8 at 10:00 AM, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing to talk about the nominations of some people to be in charge of certain departments at HHS. |
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New Report on Subminimum Wage |
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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report that examines outcomes for Colorado and Oregon after they phased out their use of subminimum wage waivers. The report found that almost half of the people who had previously worked for subminimum wage had gone onto other types of employment, including competitive integrated employment (CIE). The other half of the population the report tracked had gone on to receive services funded by Medicaid that provide employment, socialization, and daily living skills training. |
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Key Takeaways |
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Currently, 16 states have passed laws to end use of 14(c) certificates that allow them to pay some people with disabilities subminimum wage. This data provides a fairly narrow snapshot of the population in the country who have worked for subminimum wage, considering it tracked people from only two out of 16 states. The report notes that these populations were harder to track once they were no longer receiving Medicaid services as that group of former 14(c) employees “may or may not be working; may have chosen to retire; may have lost eligibility; or may no longer be living, according to state officials.” The narrow scope of the data means this report is not determinative of the importance of 14(c) phase out.
Read more about the report here. |
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Plain Language |
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The minimum wage is the lowest possible amount of money that employees can pay their workers. Employers cannot pay their employees less than the minimum wage, or they would be breaking the law. Subminimum wage means being paid less than the federal minimum wage. Typically, this would be illegal, but Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) allows some employers who apply for and are given a piece of paper—called a 14(c) certificate—to pay certain employees, such as people with disabilities, at hourly rates below the minimum wage. A government agency did some research into what happened in Colorado and Oregon, where they ended subminimum wage. They found that about half of the people they tracked were working and about half were doing other things like going to day services for skills training. The people doing the research didn’t look at a lot of people for this report, so it doesn’t really tell us a lot about what happens when states end subminimum wage.
Read the “Easy Read” version of the report here. |
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Oversight of Administration Actions |
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Tracker on Federal Funding Freezes - U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released a new tool tracking frozen and canceled federally appropriated funding. The tracker includes descriptions of the “at least $430 billion” in federal funding that the Congresswomen say has been either frozen or canceled by the Trump Administration.
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GAO Probes - The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is pursing 39 probes into the Trump Administration’s funding freezes, the head of the GAO, U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, told Senators at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. He testified that the Office of Management and Budget—among other agencies—has been unresponsive to GAO questions about the funding freezes.
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Report on Administration’s First 100 Days - U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) released a report detailing the harms that the Trump Administration has caused to people with disabilities and older adults in the first 100 days of the Administration.
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Key Takeaways |
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The federal funding that was appropriated and authorized by Congress but then frozen or canceled by the Trump Administration includes Head Start, National Institutes of Health research grants and funding for indirect costs, Social Security Administration (SSA) cooperative agreements for its Retirement and Disability Research Consortium, and more programs that will affect people with disabilities. The Democratic staffs of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees note that while the tracker “does not detail tens of billions of dollars in funding that President Trump has previously frozen but finally allowed to flow,” it contains many of the appropriated funds that the Administration is cutting off.
Read the press release from Congresswoman DeLauro and Senator Murray on the tracker here.
Read Senator Murray’s press release on the Appropriations hearing here.
Read Senator Kaine’s press release on the report here. |
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Plain Language |
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The Administration stopped a lot of money from going from the government to people across the country, even though Congress already decided where to send the money. This affected a lot of people, including people with disabilities. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) released a new tool tracking frozen (which means stopped) or canceled funding, which shows billions of dollars have been stopped from getting to programs like Head Start and health research. The Government Accountability Office is a government department that makes sure other parts of the government are following the law. They are looking into why this funding is frozen, or stopped, and trying to see if it can start again so the money can get to the people who are supposed to have it. |
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New Legislation
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Plain Language |
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There are a few new bills in the U.S. Congress.
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H.R. 3079 would make the period of time longer that people have to re-apply for some Medicaid home and community-based services waivers
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H.R. 3075 would change the payment amount for some disability benefits
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The Caring for Our Seniors Act would help people pay for some long-term care services and make the training programs for direct care professionals bigger so that more people can become care workers
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Right now there is a limit for how much Medicaid money territories in the U.S. can get – territories are not states but still belong to the U.S., like the Virgin Islands. H.R. 3154 would get rid of that limit.
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AUCD Story Collection |
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AUCD is collecting stories from the Network on a variety of topics to amplify the effects of this Administration on real people and our programs. If you have a story, we want to hear it.
We are interested in stories about:
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Medicaid and its impact on people's lives
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The impact of dismantling ACL
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The impact of zeroing out UCEDDs, LENDs, IDDRCs, PNS’s, DD Councils, P&As
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Impact of grants that are being cut
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Stories responding to RFK Jr.’s claims about autism or the autism registry
You can use this link to provide information and let us know if you are comfortable sharing your story with Members of Congress and their staff. |
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AUCD Policy Blog |
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AUCD invites Network members to fill out this form if you’re interested in writing for the AUCD policy blog. We are open to a variety of issues areas, and we will follow up with you as relevant issues come up that we’d like you to write about. |
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Disability Policy for All with Liz |
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Join Liz on Instagram Reels, where she provides plain language updates on policy, highlighting current issues and hot topics in federal disability policy.
Liz Weintraub is AUCD's Senior Advocacy Specialist and the host of “Disability Policy for All with Liz.” She has extensive experience practicing leadership in self-advocacy and has held many board and advisory positions at state and national organizations, including the Council on Quality & Leadership (CQL) and the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council.
Watch Liz’s most recent video on Medicaid. |
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Words to Know |
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Reconciliation
This is a process of passing bills that affect how the government spends money. It is unique because usually, you need more people to vote ‘yes’ for a bill. With reconciliation, you don’t need as many lawmakers to vote ‘yes.’ This is why reconciliation is usually used when lawmakers in one political party (either Democrat or Republican) want to pass bills they know the other political party wouldn’t like very much. They can do this when there is the same political party in charge of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency.
Frozen
When people say that something is “frozen” they mean that it is stopped. This is different than saying something is very cold. When funds are frozen, they have been stopped for a time. They might be able to start again. |
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