Week Six Update

1. The full Senate voted along party lines to advance McMahon’s nomination. The final confirmation vote is Monday, 3/3.
   • Trump has promised major cuts to the department via Executive Order once McMahon is in place, and three active bills to abolish the department are also currently in Congress.
   • DoED funds and oversees a variety of disability-specific programs and grants, and protects disabled students rights to attend public schools.
   • Read our Department of Education explainer, or check out state and federal educational policy tracker tools.
2. “End DEI” Snitch Portal Opens at DoED. The portal asks people to report K-12 schools that are supporting sex or race-based DEI initiatives, which the program frames as “discriminatory.”
   • The end to inclusive efforts in public schools hurts all students, with BIPOC disabled and/or LGBTQ disabled students at the highest risk of being bullied by peers, and not receiving full access to their education
3. Airlines petition to overturn DOT rule holding them accountable for wheelchair damage. In Airlines for America vs. DOT, the group has filed a petition to roll back a Biden/Buttigieg era update that would hold airlines accountable for damage caused to wheelchairs and mobility devices on flights.
   • More than 1 in every 100 wheelchairs or mobility devices are damaged in transit, often rendering them unusable and leaving passengers stranded in their new destination.
   • Delta, American Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest, and United are all involved.
4. Texas vs. Beccera lawsuit continues. An update last week attempted to shift focus to Final Rule’s spending guidance for independent living, which could affect disabled people’s rights to live in-community. They also continue to use transphobic rhetoric to attack Final Rule.
   • Despite reassurances, the original filing does explicitly ask for 504 to be declared unconstitutional (p 37-42). We also should not make concessions on basic rights for any humans.
   • A South Dakotan AG was removed from the case, but the state itself did not withdraw from the suit.
   • The next update is due in April. Stay vigilant. See our lawsuit explainer and resources here.
5. Budget Resolution with deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP clears the House. The House passed a budget resolution requiring $880 billion in cuts, likely from the Energy and Commerce Committee, who oversees Medicaid and SNAP. Medicaid provides healthcare for 70 million disabled and low-income Americans, SNAP provides financial assistance for families who need food.
   • The money would instead go to tax cuts for the very wealthy, as well as to the Dept. of Defense for border programs. Changes for tax on tips and overtime was not included, despite campaign promises.
   • The budget now moves to the Senate, where they can propose changes. Congress will also work on the bill in committees.
6. RFK Jr., Rubio and DOGE attack vaccines, global health programs. The FDA meeting to plan next year’s flu shots was cancelled this week, alongside a meeting for developers of a Covid vaccine pill. A Long Covid committee was also disbanded. The move comes amid an ongoing measles outbreak, in which an unvaccinated schoolchild was the first death.
   • DOGE and Rubio’s defunding of USAID has removed Ebola protections during an outbreak, shuttered global TB, HIV, polio, and malaria treatment supply chains, and fired Avian flu researchers, among others.
   • Both pandemics and vaccine refusal are bad for everyone, and disproportionately harm disabled and immunocompromised folks, as well as babies too young to receive their vaccines.
7. Eugenicists get promoted. Conspiracy theorist Darren Beattie is now serving as an acting undersecretary at the Dept. of State. He was fired from a first Trump administration speechwriting role after attending a white nationalist conference.
   • Beattie is known for bigoted comments, especially his desire to sterilize “low-IQ trash.” His advocacy for “population control” frequently targets BIPOC and disabled people.
   • Right-wing ideologue Bari Weiss used her platform to advocate for subminimum wage for disabled people this week. Biden’s Labor Dept had previously sought to phase out the sheltered workshop certification loophole that makes it legal.

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Action Items:

• Share this info. Disability is often lost in mainstream coverage.

• Call your Senator and ask them to vote NO on the McMahon nomination, and on any budget that cuts Medicaid/SNAP

• Call your Rep. and tell them to bring back funding for public health, and vote YES to the Dept. of Education Protection Act.

• Contact involved airlines and ask them to drop their suit, and be accountable for destruction of passengers’ wheelchairs.

• If your state is involved, contact your Attorney General and ask them to withdraw from Texas v. Beccera. Tell them you stand in solidarity with disabled people, and trans folks.

• Make some good trouble and spam the DoED Anti-DEI portal 😉

• Be on the lookout for an incoming Executive Order about English as the national language, which could have many educational impacts.