With Democrats set to control both houses of Congress, they will have new tools to potentially alter Trump administration changes to Medicaid, special education and more.
Disability advocates say that Democrats will now have the authority to conduct oversight hearings and influence appropriations.
“For almost two years, disabled people have taken hit after hit with little pushback from Capitol Hill,” said Michelle Uteza, executive director of the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund. “A Congress willing to use its oversight and spending power can slow that damage, demand answers and make agencies follow the laws Congress wrote.”
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Since Trump took office, lawmakers have approved deep cuts to Medicaid, special education staffers were moved out of the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice reversed its long-held position on the rights of people with disabilities to access services in the community, among other changes.
“The election results offer renewed hope that we can reverse some of the serious threats facing people with disabilities, from devastating Medicaid cuts to the erosion of community living rights and protections for students with disabilities. We’re also hopeful Congress will move forward on legislation to end subminimum wages,” said Heather Sachs, policy and advocacy co-director at the National Down Syndrome Congress.
One area that Democrats have signaled that they plan to target is President Donald Trump’s efforts to close the Education Department. Under his administration, the agency has struck a number of so-called “interagency agreements” to break up the department, including one this summer to shift many special education responsibilities to the Department of Health and Human Services.
In addition, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is poised to become speaker, said Tuesday night that his party would work to reverse the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts that were approved last year.
“Whether they will be successful will of course depend on whether President Trump vetoes those bills,” said Alison Barkoff, a professor at George Washington University who led the federal Administration on Community Living under the Biden administration.
Beyond particular policies, however, advocates said they are optimistic that the shift in the balance of power in Washington will restore broad support for disability rights.
“Disability rights have long enjoyed bipartisan support, but the current administration has sharply diverged from that history, attacking rights as fundamental as the right of disabled people to live and receive services in their own homes and communities,” said Jennifer Mathis, deputy director at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. “By all accounts, this election appears to have been a referendum on the current administration’s policies, so the results bode well for a return to support for these rights.”
