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November 7, 2025 | Vol. MMXXV | Issue 137
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In this edition:
Appropriations & Government Shutdown
Department of Health and Human Services
White House Sign Language Interpreters
New Legislation
AUCD Materials
Words to Know
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Appropriations & Government Shutdown |
The federal government is still shut down. Congress needs to pass either a full-year appropriations package for Fiscal Year 2026 or a continuing resolution (CR) to continue to fund the government at current spending levels for a shorter amount of time. Democrats want a deal on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, while Republicans want to open the government first.
The government shutdown has officially been the longest in U.S. history. On November 4, the Senate voted for the fourteenth time on the Republican CR, which would fund the government through November 21 at similar funding levels as the previous year (FY25). It did not have enough votes to pass. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has to call the House back in session as the CR they previously passed will soon not be relevant. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has said that Congress needs to end the government
shutdown before he will advance any other long-term spending bills.
Now, Senate Democrats and Republicans are starting to make progress negotiating new appropriations bills to reopen and fund the government. Republicans have signaled that they would be open to advance a package of three full-year spending bills—Agriculture-FDA, Military
Construction-VA, and Legislative Branch funding bills—and potentially rehire federal workers who were fired during the government shutdown. The Senate will likely stay in D.C. through the weekend to work on these bills. Leader Thune had said that the Senate would hold another vote on an updated CR on Friday, November 7. As of the publication of this newsletter, they have not yet held that vote.
House lawmakers are also working in a bipartisan fashion to find a compromise on extending the Affordable Care Act subsidies, but Speaker Johnson has said he will not make promises about bringing an ACA subsidies bill to the floor. It’s still not clear how much longer the
shutdown will go on for.
Because no appropriations legislation was passed by November 1, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding has lapsed, marking the first time in its history that the program has ever failed to get money out to beneficiaries. On October 31, a federal judge ordered the Trump Administration to shift billions of dollars from other programs to "make a full SNAP payment by the end of the day Monday or a partial payment by Wednesday." The President had said that SNAP money would only be sent out "when Radical Left Democrats open up the government," but the Administration eventually agreed Monday to use all $4.65 billion in contingency funds within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said that it would take several weeks to dole out these payments. However, on November 7, the Administration asked a federal appeals court to block the order and "suspend any court orders requiring it to spend more money than is available in a contingency fund."
This article has more information about what individual states are doing to manage the lapse in SNAP benefits.
Some Republican Senators are backing Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) Keep SNAP Funded Act (S.3024), which would fund SNAP until the shutdown ends—he wrote an op-ed pushing for its passage. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduced the Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act (S.3071) with the support of all Senate Democrats. WIC is the shortened name for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. This bill was
blocked from consideration by Republicans.
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Key Takeaways |
The government shutdown is affecting Americans in many different ways. For some organizations and programs that receive government funding, the lack of transparency about who has been RIF'd within the federal government has led to broad confusion and made it harder to get answers about how these RIFs might affect program beneficiaries. With fewer people at government agencies, there are fewer points of contact for grantees, people who receive benefits, community health providers, and more. Running out of SNAP funding could affect more than 40 million low-income people, including 4 million people with disabilities.
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Plain Language |
The government is shut down right now. This means that government departments and agencies are not working. The government shut down because Congress did not pass a spending bill on time. The deadline was September 30. Congress needed to pass a government spending bill to make sure the government is funded in 2026, which is also called "appropriations." Appropriations means money that is set aside by Congress for a particular use. Democrats want to make sure people can continue to save money on healthcare using something called "tax credits" before they agree to reopen the government. Many people are able to pay less for healthcare every month by using tax credits.
The government shutdown has lasted longer than any other government shutdown in U.S. history. The Senate voted 14 times on a continuing resolution (also called a CR), which is a funding bill that makes sure the government has enough money for a few more months. This CR was introduced by Republicans and most Democrats in Congress don't like it. It would only fund the government until November 21, so Congress will need to change it or pass a new one soon. Senate Democrats and Republicans are starting to work together to pass some appropriations bills. They would be around defense (the army and military), agriculture (farms and food growing), and the legislative branch (Congress). Republicans are open to talking about how to rehire the federal workers who were
fired during the government shutdown. Some House lawmakers are talking about how to agree on the healthcare tax credits. It’s still not clear how much longer the shutdown will go on for. Leader Thune had said that the Senate would vote on an updated CR on Friday, November 7. They have not yet voted as of the time we are writing this newsletter.
The government ran out of money for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is a program that helps people who don't have very much money buy food. The government needs to open again to get more money for SNAP. A judge told the Administration it has to use some money in an emergency fund to send some money to people who have SNAP. The Administration didn't want to do this, and they are now asking a court to stop this order from going through so that they don't have to send the money out. There are 4 million people with disabilities who use SNAP to buy food.
Some Republican Senators are supporting Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) Keep SNAP Funded Act (S.3024), which would fund SNAP until the shutdown ends. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) introduced the Keep SNAP and WIC Funded Act (S.3071) with the support of all Senate Democrats. WIC helps women, babies, and children get food.
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Department of Health and Human Services |
New reporting from Reuters shows Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has walked back his claims that Tylenol taken prenatally causes autism. Secretary Kennedy "said evidence does not show that Kenvue's (KVUE.N) pain medicine Tylenol definitively causes autism but that it should still be used cautiously." According to the reporting, the Secretary told reporters: "The causative association ... between Tylenol given in pregnancy and the perinatal periods is not sufficient to say it definitely cause autism. But it is very suggestive."
Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued interim guidance stating that they do not recommend the use of leucovorin (folinic acid) for autistic children. Secretary Kennedy and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary had previously recommended
leucovorin to treat symptoms of autism in children. AAP says that while small studies have explored the use of leucovorin and found some potential benefits, it has not been studied enough or been subject to large clinical trials and therefore does not have enough evidence to back up its endorsement as a treatment for autism.
The AAP also filed an updated complaint against Secretary Kennedy petitioning to disband the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and restore the committee with the members the Secretary fired earlier this year. They had initially sued about the Secretary’s May vaccine recommendations, which removed children and pregnant women from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) immunization schedules. AAP says that they have been pushing back against many of ACIP's decisions in recent months, ever since Secretary Kennedy fired the previous members and instated his own hand-picked advisors. This includes ACIP’s "approval of flu vaccines without thimerosal despite studies showing the preservative is safe and its recommendation that children under 4 years receive a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine and a separate varicella vaccine, not the combined MMRV vaccine."
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Key Takeaways |
As the AAP points out, autistic people have had to endure decades of dubious treatments and procedures that often do real harm. The Administration has treated their research into autism and its causes with a degree of rushed urgency, but strong scientific discovery takes time, breadth, and peer review. It should not be rushed—autistic people pose no danger to society and deserve to live in peace without being demeaned by their
government, treated as people whose disability should be prevented at all costs. At the same time, proposals to cut funding for Medicaid, education, and community living services threaten the resources autistic people and their families rely on most.
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Plain Language |
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is now saying that Tylenol does not definitely cause autism. He had said before that autism is caused by pregnant women taking Tylenol. Now, he is saying that maybe it doesn't cause it. He says that there is some proof that it does but he can't say for sure. Many doctors and experts have said that Tylenol does NOT cause autism.
Secretary Kennedy and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) leader Marty Makary said that a medicine called leucovorin would help autistic children. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released guidance where they say they do not recommend it. They say that there isn't enough proof to show that it will help autistic people. For a long time, autistic people have been given treatments and medicines that don't help, and sometimes they actually hurt them. This isn't fair because autistic people do not need to be cured but many people try to get them to take treatments that don't help.
The President, Secretary Kennedy, and other healthcare officials have rushed to tell the public that autism is caused by Tylenol even though it isn't. They also rushed to tell the public that leucovorin would help autistic people, even though there isn't enough proof. They did this because they say there are way more autistic people today than there were 20 to 30 years ago. They think this is an emergency and are talking about it like it's a really dangerous disease, but autism and disability are a natural part of life. It is not respectful to talk about autism like it is a dangerous disease that could spread to other people or as if autistic people are dangerous to society. At the same time, the Administration’s decisions to cut funding for Medicaid,
education, and community living services make it harder for autistic people to get the services and support that they really need.
AAP sued the Administration earlier this year because they disagreed with the Administration's changes to COVID vaccine advice. Now, they are updating their request to reverse the COVID vaccine advice. They are asking a judge to force the Administration to rehire all the people they fired from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP. ACIP is a group of experts who give advice on how Americans should use vaccines and what age they should get them. Earlier this year, Secretary Kennedy fired all the people on ACIP, and hired all-new committee members. These committee members have said and done things that show they are not very supportive of vaccines.
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White House Sign Language Interpreters
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On November 4, a district judge ordered the White House to restore American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at all press briefings conducted by the President or by his press secretary. The order follows a lawsuit filed by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) in May, after the Administration stopped using ASL interpretation. In this lawsuit, NAD alleged that, by not having ASL interpreters during public briefings, the White House was violating Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which mandates meaningful access to all White House communications for people with disabilities. The judge agreed, ruling that because "many people who use ASL cannot communicate in English, providing them with English captions or transcripts does not make speech accessible to them." The judge didn’t fulfill the entirety of NAD's request—he did not include a requirement for ASL interpretation at briefings with the
vice president, First Lady, or Second Lady. He also didn’t order ASL interpretation to accompany videos on White House websites and social media channels.
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Key Takeaways |
This ruling is a big victory for disability advocates, who pointed out discrimination against deaf constituents at the hands of the Administration. For some background, in September 2020, NAD won a court ruling that ordered the White House to provide interpreters for all coronavirus-related briefings, which resulted in the White House implementing a policy to provide ASL interpreters for all press briefings conducted by the President, Vice President, First Lady, Second Gentleman, or the White House Press Secretary. This practice ended in January 2025, when the second Trump Administration began.
You can read the National Association of the Deaf’s press release here.
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Plain Language |
A judge told the White House that they have to have sign language interpreters at events where the President or his press secretary are presenting on new information to the public. These events are called "press briefings" and the press secretary works for the President and works with reporters to give them information for the news to report on. The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) had sued the Administration because the White House had stopped using American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at press briefings. The NAD said this was against the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The judge agreed with NAD but he didn't force the White House to
have ASL interpreters at press briefings with the Vice President, the First Lady, or the Second Lady, or to go with videos that the White House posts on its website and social media.
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New Legislation
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The Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act (S.3078)
Introduced by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Would provide economic recovery payments to recipients of social security, supplemental security income, railroad retirement benefits, and veterans disability compensation or pension benefits
You can read Senator Warren’s press release here.
The We Want Our Healthcare Money Back Act (H.R.5871)
The Guaranteed Uninterrupted Access to Retiree Disbursements (GUARD) Act (H.R. 5893)
Introduced by Representative Emilia Sykes (D-OH)
Would ensure the Social Security Administration (SSA) remains fully operational by providing Fiscal Year 2026 appropriations funding for the SSA and requiring the agency to continue responding to Congressional casework inquiries during any lapse in federal funding
You can read Representative Sykes’ press release here.
H.R.5922
Introduced by Representative Greg Stanton (D-AZ)
Would direct the Secretary of Transportation to establish a pilot program and give grants to entities for the goal of improving the availability of accessible microtransit services to individuals with disabilities or mobility impairments
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Plain Language |
There are a few new bills in the U.S. Congress.
The Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act would give money to people who get social security including older adults, people with disabilities, and veterans.
The We Want Our Healthcare Money Back Act would make the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services submit a report on fraud, which is when people lie to get something. The Inspector General looks into rule-breaking and issues in government departments. This bill would make him look into Medicare or Medicaid fraud, which is when people lie to get Medicare or Medicaid benefits.
The Guaranteed Uninterrupted Access to Retiree Disbursements (GUARD) Act would give some money to the Social Security Administration so they can still work during the government shutdown.
A bill called H.R.5922 would make the Transportation Department start a program to help improve accessibility on transit services. This includes things like trains and metros. The program would give money to improve transit services for people who have physical disabilities and a hard time getting around.
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AUCD Story Collection |
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:
Medicaid and its impact on people's lives
The impact of dismantling ACL
The important work of UCEDDs, LENDs, IDDRCs, PNS’s, DD Councils, P&As
The impact of zeroing out UCEDDs, LENDs, IDDRCs, PNS’s, DD Councils, P&As
Impact of grants that are being cut
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.
October was National Disability Employment Awareness Month! Check out our two most recent blog posts on disability and employment.
From Jean Winsor, PhD, at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston: Celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month
From Sean Tyree, at the Kansas University Center on Disabilities: Sean Tyree’s Journey in Competitive Integrated Employment
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Disability Policy for All with Liz |
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 SNAP benefits.
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Words to Know
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Appropriations
This is money that is set aside by Congress for a particular use. The appropriations process happens once a year. Money is sometimes requested by the President’s Administration or by Congress for a specific use.
Government Shutdown
When there is a government shutdown, government departments and agencies are not working. This happens when Congress does not pass a funding bill on time, usually when Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on how to fund the government. During a government shutdown, some people will keep working, especially if they keep people safe.
SNAP
SNAP is a government program that provides food benefits to families who don’t have very much money. This means that some families get a card, like a credit card or a debit card, that they can use to pay for groceries.
Fraud
This is a crime where people pretend to be someone else or pretend to have something or lack something in order to get money. For example, someone might pretend not to have money to get benefits from the government.
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