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:
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.
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.
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.
View past issues of Disability Policy News to learn more about AUCD's policy priorities and how you can engage in policy actions.
