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:
Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has been confirmed by the Senate to be President Trump’s new Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after Kristi Noem was ousted. Congress is still working to pass a funding bill for DHS, which has been shut down for a little over a month. Appropriators have been working on a compromise bill to satisfy both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, as well as President Trump, who wants passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) America Act before he will support a DHS deal. The SAVE America Act would require proof of citizenship to vote.
Early Friday morning, the Senate passed a bill funding all of DHS except for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). This satisfied some demands from Senate Democrats, who refused to fund ICE and CBP without significant guardrails. Republicans want to pass a second reconciliation bill that would fund immigration enforcement, military spending, and potentially new election rules. The DHS funding bill now moves to the House.
Advocates are concerned that the SAVE America Act could disenfranchise disabled voters. Voters with disabilities already face many barriers to voting, including inaccessibility at polls and voting machines. The SAVE America Act would introduce new challenges for disabled voters. The bill’s documentary requirements could make in-person voting harder, as people with disabilities are less likely to have a driver’s license than nondisabled people. It may also be harder to adhere to the bill’s more complicated requirements for mail-in voting, which is commonly utilized by people with disabilities.
The Senate voted to approve Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) to be the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This happened after the President fired Kristi Noem, who used to be the DHS Secretary. It is taking a long time to pass an appropriations bill for DHS. Appropriations means money that is set aside by Congress for a particular use. Congress separated the DHS bill from the other bills in an appropriations package in February. They gave DHS money for a few weeks, and it ended on February 13. Congress has been trying to figure out how to agree on a new bill. Democrats and Republicans are not agreeing. President Trump wants Congress to pass a bill called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) America Act before he will support a DHS bill. The SAVE America Act would make people show proof that they are citizens before they can vote.
Early Friday morning, the Senate passed a bill to give money to all of DHS except for two parts: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Immigration police are part of ICE and CBP. 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. Now, Senate Democrats got part of what they wanted because Senate Republicans agree to fund the parts of DHS that are NOT immigration police.
Republicans want to pass a second reconciliation bill. Reconciliation is when one political party—either Democrats or Republicans—are in charge of Congress and the Presidency. They can pass a bill without the other political party. The first reconciliation bill that Republicans passed this session was H.R.1, or the One Big Beautiful Bill. Republicans want this second reconciliation bill to fund immigration police, money for the military, and maybe some money for elections to have more rules. Now, the DHS funding bill will go to the House so they can vote on it.
Advocates are worried that the SAVE America Act could make it harder for people with disabilities to vote. Here are a few reasons why:
1. There are a lot of accessibility issues at voting locations, called polls. A lot of people with disabilities vote by mail instead of going to a poll. The SAVE America Act would add new rules for mail-in voting that would make it even more complicated.
2. People with disabilities are less likely to have driver's licenses than people without disabilities. This means it would be harder for people with disabilities to prove who they are at the polls.
View past issues of Disability Policy News to learn more about AUCD's policy priorities and how you can engage in policy actions.
