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March 6, 2026 | Vol. MMXXVI | Issue 151 |
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In this edition:
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Department of Homeland Security
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Independent Autism Coordinating Committee Established
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Department of Health and Human Services
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New Legislation
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AUCD Materials
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Words to Know
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Department of Homeland Security |
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Congress has been working on passing a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In February, Congress passed appropriations legislation for all other federal agencies except for DHS, so it was funded via a short-term stopgap bill called a continuing resolution (CR). Since then, appropriators have been working on a compromise bill to satisfy both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, as well as President Trump. You can read more about the DHS negotiations in this previous issue of Disability Policy News.
It was announced this week that Kristi Noem would be removed as Secretary and President Trump was nominating Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) to be her successor. Senator Mullin will need to be confirmed by the Senate before he can become the new DHS Secretary. Noem has been the subject of intense scrutiny as Secretary, largely in reaction to the aggressive and fatal actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers. |
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Key Takeaways |
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The Department of Homeland Security contains many different federal agencies and programs, including CBP, ICE, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services, and many more. Workers under these agencies are often expected to keep working, since they are working in the service of the nation’s security, but they have been missing paychecks due to the government’s lapse in funding. People with disabilities are likely to be affected by slowed security checkpoints overseen by TSA, delayed immigration processing for immigrants with disabilities, delayed FEMA support in areas where there have been natural disasters, and gaps in accessibility and accommodations support across the agency. |
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Plain Language |
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In February, Congress passed appropriations bills. Appropriations means money that is set aside by Congress for a particular use. They separated the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bill from the five other bills in the appropriations package and made it a short-term spending bill. That new continuing resolution (short-term spending bill) funded the Department of Homeland Security until February 13. Congress couldn't agree on a funding bill in time for the February 13 deadline, so DHS shut down. This means many people in DHS stopped working and stopped getting paid. There are some people who have to keep working during a shutdown because their jobs are considered very important for the safety of the country.
Immigration police are part of DHS. Immigration is when people leave one country and come to live in another country. Immigration police have hurt many people who are against the President's immigration policies. This has happened many times and has made people all around the country very upset. When people were killed by immigration police during a protest in Minnesota, many Congressional Democrats said that because immigration police have hurt people and messed up, they should have less money and more rules. Republicans didn't agree with everything Democrats wanted to do, so they couldn't agree on what bill to pass.
The Department of Homeland Security includes many different agencies. Here are some of them and how people with disabilities might be affected while these agencies are shut down.
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Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): They are immigration police. They are supposed to keep people out of the country who don't have the right paperwork. They have hurt a lot of people and done many things that are against the law.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA): They help people when there are disasters, such as hurricanes or tornadoes.
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Transportation Security Administration (TSA): They are in charge of safety and security when people travel. This includes keeping people safe at airports.
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The Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services: They check and see if people can come into the country and what kind of paperwork they have. They sometimes help people become official citizens of the U.S.
People with disabilities could have a harder time getting the right accommodations when they go to the airport. They might not be able to access different services through FEMA if the agency isn't fully working. Immigrants with disabilities might have to wait longer to meet with an immigration official to get the right paperwork to stay in the U.S.
This week, President Trump fired Kristi Noem from being the Secretary of DHS. She made a lot of people mad while she was Secretary because she said what ICE and CBP were doing was ok. The President chose Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) to be the next Secretary of DHS. The Senate will have to vote to decide if Senator Mullin can be Secretary. |
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Independent Autism Coordinating Committee Established |
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A coalition of researchers and advocates are announcing the formation of the Independent Autism Coordinating Committee, a group they say will conduct autism research and promote scientific investigation into best practices for services and supports for autistic people. The committee is a reaction to the recent changes at the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), the official government committee overseen by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to recent reporting, the new independent committee includes “former federal committee members, National Institutes of Health directors, and autism scientists and advocates.”
The IACC is a federal body that advises the HHS Secretary, coordinates across the federal government, and provides a public forum for discussion on issues related to autism. In January, Secretary Kennedy appointed 21 new members to the IACC in a complete overhaul of the committee. Many advocates are concerned about Secretary Kennedy’s handpicked IACC members, many of whom have espoused the use of pseudoscientific—and sometimes dangerous—treatments for autism or linked vaccines to the increased rates of autism diagnosis. You can read more in this previous issue of Disability Policy News. |
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Key Takeaways |
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Many organizations and experts across the country have taken unprecedented steps to provide the kind of guidance and expertise that the federal government usually provides. During Secretary Kennedy’s time at HHS, many career experts in healthcare, disability, and aging have been fired or have left due to the Secretary’s approach at the agency. Many states have taken steps to provide accurate public health information, some forming coalitions to take up the mantle of providing science-based recommendations. |
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Plain Language |
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is in charge of a group in the government called the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), which helps the HHS Secretary make decisions about autism policy. This committee works with many people across the whole federal government to give out information about autism. Many of the new people on the IACC have said things about autism that aren't true. Some of them have said that vaccines or issues with the stomach cause autism. Some have advocated for treatments for autism that do not help autistic people.
A group of advocates and people who do research on autism are creating an official committee called the Independent Autism Coordinating Committee. This is different from IACC because it is not part of the government. Because people don't trust IACC or the changes that Secretary Kennedy has made at HHS, they want to make their own committee. This committee includes some people who used to work on autism research and policy in the government.
Other people have also made groups like this because they don't trust the federal government right now. Some people have made groups that work on public health research and advice or vaccine advice. |
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Department of Health and Human Services |
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Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) – HHS Secretary Kennedy has appointed two new members to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Dr. Angelina Farella, a pediatrician, and Dr. Sean Downing, an internal medicine and pediatrics physician. Dr. Farella has said that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous, should be pulled from the market, and suggested that treating COVID symptoms would be better for the population instead of vaccination.
Key Takeaways
ACIP is slated to meet on March 18 and 19 to discuss mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, long COVID, and COVID-19 vaccine injuries. You can read more about ACIP and related vaccine policies in this past issue of Disability Policy News.
A lawsuit from doctors’ groups, led by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), is currently working its way through the courts. The core of the lawsuit is about Secretary Kennedy’s changes to COVID vaccine recommendations and ACIP’s overhaul, but has been amended to also include other vaccine policy changes.
Before he was Secretary, Kennedy said that the COVID-19 vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made” and filed a petition, as then-chair of the Children’s Health Defense, to revoke emergency authorization for the current COVID vaccines and refrain from approving future ones.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) – The USPSTF is a panel of outside experts who meet to make recommendations about preventive services to the nation. HHS postponed a meeting of the USPSTF, and will apparently reschedule it in a few months. Last year, HHS canceled two meetings (out of three scheduled meetings total for the year). It was previously reported that Secretary Kennedy intended to remove all 16 members of the panel “because he viewed them as too ‘woke.’” One of the USPSTF’s draft recommendations is about autism screening in children, among others.
New York Medicaid – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is focusing on New York’s Medicaid program as part of its efforts to crack down on fraud in Medicaid. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz sent a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul requesting information on program integrity, which refers to the efforts and strategies that keep the program running smoothly and preventing waste, fraud, or abuse. Administrator Oz alleges that New York’s Medicaid spending raises “serious concerns about New York’s oversight of personal care, home health, adult day care programming, nonemergency medical transportation (NEMT), and behavioral health services.” The letter suggests that there is rampant fraud in the state’s Medicaid program, which is the second largest in the country behind California and spends more per person than most other states.
Key Takeaways
The Administration has recently announced new efforts to broadly address healthcare fraud in service of decreasing federal costs related to Medicaid. Advocates are concerned that using the language of “fraud-busting” could be cover for the Administration to cut Medicaid costs and will end up cutting services for people with disabilities and older adults.
In his letter, Administrator Oz says that “one of the leading drivers of this high expenditure appears to be related to the workforce delivering long-term care, particularly homebased personal care services.” He goes on to write that “[w]hile CMS recognizes that changing demographic factors and legitimate care needs, such as keeping individuals in the home and out of institutional settings, may lead to proportional workforce increases, the numbers observed in New York remain disproportionate to what would reasonably be expected.” The letter cites a few cases of Medicaid fraud by various bad actors in New York, which Governor Hochul says the state has been addressing by partnering with the Justice Department in its investigation into these cases.
As evidenced by the Administration’s actions cutting off millions of Medicaid dollars to Minnesota, CMS may use examples of fraud to cut off broader Medicaid funding to states.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – CMS released the State Medicaid & CHIP Toolkit for Children’s Behavioral Health Services and the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT) Requirements. The toolkit is for state Medicaid and CHIP agencies to make sure that children and youth get care for behavioral health conditions. It includes strategies for supporting children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and examples of how different states are already working to make specific improvements based on their states’ needs.
CMS released an informational bulletin announcing the delay of enforcement actions regarding the fee-for-service (FFS) grievance system for home and community-based services (HCBS). The Access Rule dictates that state Medicaid programs have to have a grievance system in place for FFS HCBS by July 9, 2026. This grievance system gives consumers a forum to express issues they have with the performance of “person-centered service planning (PCSP) and HCBS settings requirements.” It provides a protocol and expectations for people who use these services under Medicaid and want to take steps to make a complaint and potentially get some kind of resolution to their issue. This week, CMS said that it would extend the deadline for states establishing that system to December 31, 2027. CMS cited states’ requests for more time to implement or update electronic systems to come into compliance with the Access Rule’s requirements.
Key Takeaways
A delay is not ideal; people with complaints about their HCBS need a process and procedure to have those complaints heard. Advocates are encouraged to continue state-level advocacy to ensure that state Medicaid programs know the importance of grievance systems. Read more from Justice in Aging here. |
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Plain Language |
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Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) – The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) makes decisions about vaccines. HHS Secretary Kennedy added two new members to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), Dr. Angelina Farella and Dr. Sean Downing. Dr. Farella is a pediatrician, which is a doctor for children. Dr. Farella has said that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous and companies shouldn't be able to sell them anymore. She said that giving people treatment for COVID is better than giving them vaccines. Vaccines are shots that keep people safe from disease. A lot of people were dying and getting very sick before COVID vaccines were created. Before he was Secretary, Kennedy said that the COVID-19 vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made," which is not true. He also tried to get a court to stop letting companies make COVID-19 vaccines even though they were helping people.
ACIP is going to have a meeting on March 18 and 19. They are going to talk about injuries that people have gotten from COVID-19 vaccines. They are also going to talk about mRNA vaccines for COVID (mRNA is a specific kind of vaccine). They will also talk about long COVID, which is when someone gets COVID and it gives them issues for a long time. Secretary Kennedy and many people in ACIP have said a lot of things about COVID vaccines that aren't true, so people are worried that they will make bad decisions about COVID vaccines in this meeting. You can read more about ACIP and vaccine policies in this past issue of Disability Policy News.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is a group that works on children's healthcare. They are leading a lawsuit with a lot of doctors to get rid of the changes that Secretary Kennedy made to official COVID-19 vaccine advice. A lawsuit is when someone goes to a court to try and get someone to change what they are doing or what they did.
U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) – The USPSTF is a group of experts who meet to make recommendations about preventive healthcare (how to stop people from getting sick). HHS was supposed to have USPSTF meet, but they are delaying the meeting. Last year, HHS canceled two meetings (out of three scheduled meetings total for the year). A news article says that Secretary Kennedy wanted to get rid of all 16 members of the group because he didn't agree with their beliefs. He hasn't removed them yet. One of the things that USPSTF was working on was making recommendations about autism screening (checking to see if someone has autism) in children.
New York Medicaid – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said that New York’s Medicaid program has a lot of problems. They are working on stopping fraud in Medicaid. Fraud is when someone pretends to be someone else or do something in order to get money. CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz sent a letter to New York Governor Kathy Hochul. He wanted a lot of information on how the state's Medicaid program works and makes sure people are not committing fraud in order to get Medicaid money. Dr. Oz wants to know how New York's state government is going to stop fraud before it happens. He said in his letter that he was especially worried that New York is spending too much money on home and community-based services and programs that adults with disabilities do during the day. He thinks there might be a lot of fraud in New York's Medicaid program. California spends the most on Medicaid, and New York spends second most.
The Administration has been very focused on healthcare fraud. The President talked about it many times. Advocates are worried that the Administration is using fraud as an excuse to take Medicaid away from people and spend less on it. There were a few examples of fraud in New York, and Governor Hochul says that the state government is working with the federal government to make sure the people who committed fraud are punished. The Administration cut off millions of Medicaid dollars to Minnesota when they founds examples of fraud there, so people are worried that the Administration will do the same thing to New York.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – CMS released a toolkit to give state agencies some guidelines for how to help children who get Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) healthcare. It includes information and advice on how to help children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and mental health issues.
The Access Rule is a rule that says states have to have a system for people to make complaints about how their HCBS plans are going. This is called a grievance system. A grievance system gives people a place to tell their state government that they have an issue with their care and get help. States were supposed to have these systems created by July 9, 2026. CMS released an announcement that they are going to wait a little longer to check on states and make sure they are creating this system. They said that states have until December 31, 2027.
CMS said that some states need more time to work on electronic systems. Advocates should talk to their state governments and make sure they know how important grievance systems are for people with disabilities. |
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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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A resolution to make February 2026 "Low Vision and Vision Impairment Awareness Month." Impairment is like a disability.
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A resolution to make the Department of Veterans Affairs keep a list of which veterans have small businesses and which veterans with disabilities have small businesses. A veteran is someone who used to be in the army/military.
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A bill to give people more money under Medicaid for people in institutions
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A bill to make the Department of Health and Human Services do research into how people get certain diseases that affect your brain and hurt it over a long period of time
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The Save Medicare Act would make Medicare Advantage plans stop using "Medicare" in the names of their health insurance or advertisements. Medicare Advantage is a kind of insurance that some older adults and people with disabilities use. It goes through Medicare but is a private company.
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The Improving Housing Access Act would make an official in the government study how to help more people with disabilities and older adults address the challenges they have to getting housing.
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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 important work of UCEDDs, LENDs, IDDRCs, PNS’s, DD Councils, P&As
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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. Read past blog posts here. |
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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 videos. |
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Words to Know |
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Fraud
This is when people lie about who they are or what they do to get something in return, like money.
The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC)
IACC is a group in the government that helps the Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary make decisions about autism policy. This committee works with many people across the whole federal government to give out information about autism.
mRNA Vaccines
Vaccines are shots people get to stay healthy and not get diseases. mRNA is a specific type of vaccine.
Grievance system
A system for people to make complaints about how something is going. A grievance system gives people a place to tell people in the government that they have an issue and they need help.
Veteran
A person who used to be in the military.
Lawsuit
An official process where someone takes an issue to a court because they want someone else to change something. Sometimes people will sue (creating a lawsuit) an organization or another person. |
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