Protect Children with Disabilities: Reject HR 1 or Similar Senate Budget Reconciliation Bill

Dear Member of Congress,

I am your constituent and the parent of a child with a disability/a family member of a child with a disability/a professional in the special education field. I am writing to ask you to REJECT HR 1 or a similar Senate Budget Reconciliation Bill. 

I am writing to ask you to REJECT HR 1 or a similar Senate bill because it includes more than $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid and $350 million in cuts to Pell Grants and student loans while at the same time proposing $20 billion for a federally funded school voucher scheme that does not support all children with disabilities and their families. Combined, the cuts to Medicaid and Pell/loans, and the voucher mechanism will harm students with disabilities.

If Congress cuts Medicaid, states and school districts will not have the federal funds needed to pay for the vital services that infants, toddlers and children with disabilities need. Nearly all States use Medicaid to finance Part C early intervention services for children who qualify for both programs and on average, about half of children served in Part C (more than 250,000 infants and toddlers) are enrolled in Medicaid. The cuts to Medicaid also threaten access to school-based services for millions of children with disabilities in rural and urban school districts who rely on Medicaid for speech/occupational/physical therapy, specialized services, assistive technology, and other supports they receive in Pre-K-12 schools.

More than 3.5 million students who attend college report having some type of disability and 45 percent receive a Pell Grant. H.R. 1 would only offer grants to full-time students taking 30 credit hours per academic year, thus requiring students to add 6 additional credit hours/yr. This would eliminate existing flexibility to pro-rate Pell based on credit hours and will create hardship for students with disabilities who may adjust their semester load due to the nature of their disability, to their need to also work or other factors.

It makes no sense to cut Medicaid or Pell -when millions of disabled individuals rely upon these programs for health and education access- while at the same time prioritizing a $20 billion boon to private schools that jeopardizes access to federal protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). While HR 1 notes that children with disabilities can receive 'equitable services' -as allowed under current law- the bill does not add any new protections; thus continuing to ensure most children with disabilities will not be protected under a new and expensive tax scheme. We know that many families who accept a voucher can end up losing the rights under IDEA.

Together, these proposals jeopardize access to health, education and all IDEA protections including screenings, interventions, therapies, specialized instruction, services, assistive technology, and more that children and youth with disabilities need.

Please protect students with disabilities and reject HR 1 or a similar Senate bill.