As COPAA members know, in May, the House of Representatives passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (HR 1) -to advance Republican spending priorities through the budget reconciliation process- and this month Senate committees are vetting various pieces (that may differ from the HR 1) so the Senate version both conforms to Senate rules that govern the budget reconciliation process and addresses Senators’ priorities and concerns related to some parts of HR 1. Specifically, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee unveiled their proposal, last week, which rejects some of the most harmful higher education provisions that were included in HR 1 –including the reduced access to Pell grants that would have impacted students with disabilities as well as the requirement for lenders to utilize ‘risk sharing’ which could have exposed disabled borrowers to bias and discrimination. Unfortunately, the Senate Finance Committee bill continues to include massive cuts to Medicaid, which harms access to IDEA Part C services for infants/toddlers with disabilities as well as school-based services for eligible K-12 students with disabilities, as well as long-term services and supports. The Finance Committee bill also includes the education tax credit (aka school voucher) provision, at $4 billion annually, with no expiration date. Due to these provisions, COPAA will continue to urge the Senate to reject the partisan budget reconciliation package. In terms of process, before the President can receive the final bill for signing, Senators still need to vote on the full reconciliation package and either conference their version with the House [prior to that vote] or, amend the House version with the Senate version and send it back to the House for final approval.
THIS WEEK: Tell the Senate to Support Children with Disabilities, REJECT the Budget Reconciliation Bill
Thank you to those COPAA members who have shared your stories about why Medicaid matters and the harms it will cause to you/your family if Congress's proposed [deep] cuts are made to Medicaid through budget reconciliation. Your voice is making a difference, as some...
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