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:
On April 30, the House voted to pass a Senate-passed bill that funds non-immigration enforcement agencies in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), ending the longest recorded shutdown of a single federal agency in U.S. history. This bill includes funding for agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Congressional Republicans are still forging ahead on a party-line budget reconciliation bill to fund the immigration enforcement agencies in DHS.
Appropriators have begun drafting legislation to fund various federal agencies, as well as holding markups and hearings to consider the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2027.
Appropriations means money that is set aside by Congress for a particular use.
On April 30, the House voted on a bill that the Senate already passed. This bill will give funding to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) except for immigration police. Immigration is when people leave one country to live in a different country. Congress has been trying to figure out how to fund DHS for a while. Democrats and Republicans were not agreeing, which meant that DHS didn’t have money, so it had to shut down. This was the longest shutdown of a government department in U.S. history. Now, the bill has passed both the Senate and the House, so the President can sign it, and the DHS shutdown will end.
Congressional Republicans want to pass a bill to give money to the part of the Department of Homeland Security that includes immigration police: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). They are using a special process called reconciliation. This process can be used for bills that are about spending money. It can be used when the same political party (Republicans or Democrats) are in charge of the Senate, the House, and the Presidency. This is because you don’t need as many lawmakers to vote ‘yes.’ It is usually used when lawmakers in one political party (either Democrat or Republican) want to pass bills they know the other political party wouldn’t like very much. Republicans in the House might have different priorities than Republicans in the Senate, and the Senate has different rules than the House, so some things might change about the bill.
Congress is starting to write bills that will include appropriations for different federal government departments and programs in the coming weeks. They will hold budget hearings, where they meet with agency leaders who will talk about the President's Budget. HHS is in charge of funding and other support that AUCD programs get. Congress will also hold markups, which is when they meet to work on bills and make updates and changes.
View past issues of Disability Policy News to learn more about AUCD's policy priorities and how you can engage in policy actions.
