AUCD’s Community Inclusion Team supports the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) Network in partnership with the Administration for Community Living.
AUCD’s Maternal and Child Health Engagement supports the Autism CARES Programs, including LEND and DBP Programs.
AUCD’s Public Health Team works to create health promotion and public health efforts that include people with disabilities.
AUCD Emerging Leaders are a part of a community that includes trainees, early career professionals, self-advocates, and family members from AUCD member Centers and Programs.
AUCD's Disability Policy News (DPN) is a weekly newsletter highlighting federal policy issues affecting people with disabilities and their families. DPN features updates in plain language and action steps that people can take to educate policymakers. DPN is published every Friday.
In this edition:
FY26 Appropriations
Department of Health and Human Services
Congressional Hearings
Vaccines
Department of Energy
Department of Education
New Legislation
AUCD Materials
Words to Know
Both the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee on Appropriations have marked up their Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bills and passed them out of committee.
Senate: Senate Full Committee Markup of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Acts (S.2587)
Substantial bipartisan work went into this bill, and it passed out of committee 26-3. The legislation funds the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) at $116.6 billion—a $446 million increase in discretionary funds. You can read the Senate’s bill text and report language.
$43.1 million to UCEDDs (flat funding)
$56.3 million to Autism and Other Developmental Disorders (flat funding)
$38.2 to LENDs (increase of $1 million)
$1.7 billion to National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (where IDDRCs are housed) (increase of $20 million)
The bill was passed out of committee 11-7, along party lines—only Republicans voted to advance it. The legislation appropriates $108.6 billion for HHS, a decrease of $6.8 billion. You can read the House’s bill text and report language.
$43.1 million to UCEDDs (flat funding)
$57.3 million to Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities Programs (increase of $1 million)
$38.2 to LENDs (increase of $1 million)
$1.7 billion to NICHD (increase of $20 million)
During the markup, many amendments were introduced. Democratic lawmakers pushed for votes on amendments that would restore funding to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) programs, prevent HHS from changing the childhood vaccine schedule, and more. These amendments were unsuccessful. Others were adopted, including Representative Lois Frankel’s (D-FL) amendment to prevent appropriated funds from being used to reduce the availability of phone services for social security beneficiaries or to close any social security field offices. Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD) introduced an amendment that would prevent appropriated funds from being used to implement the Department of Labor’s proposed rule to revise regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act—it was not adopted. You can read the Republican press release on the markup here.
Congress: Now that the Senate bill and House bill have
passed out of their respective committees, they will have to be debated and
voted on in each chamber. Funding to keep the government open runs out on
September 30. To avoid a government shutdown, Congress must approve a new
government funding package for FY26 or pass a continuing resolution (CR) that
keeps the government operating on current funding levels for a specified
period. The timeline is very tight, and there may not be enough time to pass a
full spending bill before the deadline. There is a lot of disagreement among
appropriators and the White House and different factions within both
parties—the White House asked for a stopgap funding bill that would fund the
government until January 31, but many Congressional appropriators want a CR
that would fund the government until mid-November.
We expect a “clean” CR, which is a continuing resolution that funds the government at the previous fiscal year’s spending levels without any changes to policy or additions of new spending. In essence, it’s a bipartisan, temporary funding measure to keep government agencies operating when the formal appropriations process is incomplete, preventing a shutdown by extending existing funding and programs.
Action Item - If you met with Congressional staff in the last several months, emailed with them, or hosted a Member of Congress, send a thank you. You can find your House Representative here and your Senators here, including their contact information.
Congress needs to pass a government spending bill to make sure the government is funded in 2026. Before Congress can vote on that bill, committees in the House and Senate need to first review it. This is a process called a markup and the committees are called appropriations committees. Appropriations means 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.
Right now, Congress is in the middle of its appropriations process for 2026 funding. The Senate and the House both have committees that work on appropriations. Within those committees, they have special groups (called subcommittees) that focus on how much money government programs get. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed their 2026 appropriations bill, which gives more money than usual to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including programs in the AUCD Network: University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Programs, and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRCs). The Senate bill was bipartisan, which means it was supported by both Democrats and Republicans. The House Appropriations Committee passed their appropriations bill too. They cut a lot of funding for programs in HHS. The House bill was passed by only Republicans, so it was not bipartisan.
Both the Senate and House rejected the President’s Budget proposal to get rid of funding for UCEDDs and make big changes to HHS departments and agencies, which is a good sign.
There is still more work to do:
Watch this Disability Policy for All with Liz video on updates on the FY26 appropriations process.
Action Items – If you met with staff from Congress in the last several months, emailed with them, or hosted a Member of Congress, send a thank you. You can find your House Representative here and your Senators here, including their contact information.
View past issues of Disability Policy News to learn more about AUCD's policy priorities and how you can engage in policy actions.
