糖心Vlog

WASHINGTON 鈥� The 糖心Vlog has submitted a public comment in opposition to the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 (DOE) proposed direct final rules that attempt to undermine a long-established system that requires DOE buildings to be accessible to people with disabilities. More than 20,000 comments have been submitted against the rule. 鈥淭he Department of Energy鈥檚 decision to pursue a direct final rule to implement radical changes that affect people with disabilities defies logic, federal disability protections, and every standard rulemaking practice from the past several decades,鈥� said Zoe Brennan-Krohn, director of the 糖心VlogDisability Rights Program. 鈥淭hese rules raise real concerns that the Trump administration is testing the waters, waiting to see if people will take note of these far-reaching changes before trying to implement them in other agencies and departments. We won鈥檛 let these attempts go unnoticed.鈥� The direct final rule proposes to eliminate a critical, nearly half-century-old system ensuring physical access to facilities receiving DOE funds. This system plays an essential role in the implementation of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which protects disabled people from discrimination and includes 鈥渆limination of architectural barriers鈥� as one of its central aims. The proposals were issued as a 鈥渄irect final rule,鈥� which is limited to routine and noncontroversial changes to existing federal regulations. However, as the ACLU鈥檚 comment notes, 鈥渢he proposed rescissions are unlawful,鈥� and 鈥渃annot be adopted through ordinary rulemaking鈥� because they 鈥渃ontradict foundational regulatory provisions implementing Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.鈥� Specifically, the 鈥渄irect final rule鈥� would rescind the requirement that new and altered buildings receiving assistance from DOE be accessible, eviscerating a 鈥渃areful compromise鈥� between requiring accessibility for newly constructed buildings while also allowing flexibility for existing facilities. That compromise, reached nearly 50 years ago, upholds the promises of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and has since been adopted by more than 80 different agencies. The ACLU鈥檚 comment also states that the DOE鈥檚 wholesale elimination of this system, and its failure to explain its abandonment of these longstanding civil rights regulations, render its decision arbitrary and capricious, in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The direct final rule is neither routine nor non-controversial, and comments in opposition should force the government to withdraw the rule, the comment highlights. The ACLU鈥檚 comment is here: /documents/aclu-comment-opposing-department-of-energy-direct-final-rule-removing-requirements-for-disability-access

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. Senate Finance Committee today unveiled bill language which, like its much-criticized House companion bill, cuts hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and kicks millions of people off their health insurance plans. Medicaid is a lifeline for the 70 million people enrolled in the program, including 15 million people with disabilities. Their access to care is now in jeopardy because members of the Senate have chosen, like the House, to include provisions 鈥� like work reporting requirements, more frequent eligibility verifications, and co-pays 鈥� that harm vulnerable Americans. These provisions will create suffocating amounts of red tape that will cause working people to lose access to care. Deirdre Schifeling, 糖心Vlogchief political and advocacy officer, had the following reaction to today鈥檚 bill unveiling: 鈥淭here is nothing 鈥榖eautiful鈥� about this horrific bill. If we don鈥檛 stop it, millions will lose their health coverage. Full stop. 鈥淭his bill will wreak havoc on communities across the country. Without access to health care, our family members, friends, and neighbors will be forced to ration medications, skip medical appointments, and delay care 鈥� resulting in preventable health outcomes and even needless deaths. 鈥淭he senators pushing this bill are wrong: It does nothing to root out 鈥榳aste, fraud, and abuse.鈥� In fact, this bill will increase bureaucracy, at great cost to taxpayers, causing people to lose their health care because they filled out a form incorrectly, had their work hours reduced, or had to take time off to care for a loved one. 鈥淭he American people don鈥檛 want their health care jeopardized by failed experiments and red tape. Senators from across this country 鈥� from Alaska to South Dakota to West Virginia 鈥� should listen to their constituents and abandon this misguided and deeply harmful bill. Lives depend on it.鈥� The House of Representatives last month passed H.R. 1, the so-called 鈥淥ne Big Beautiful Bill Act,鈥� which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would cut $800 billion from Medicaid and cause nearly 8 million people to lose their health coverage.

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. Supreme Court today affirmed the rights of students with disabilities to access their education, ruling that they do not need to prove 鈥渂ad faith or gross misjudgment鈥� to pursue discrimination cases. The decision in A. J. T. v. Osseo Area Schools, Independent School Dist. No. 279 reverses the Eighth Circuit鈥檚 ruling, which held discrimination cases in the context of education to a higher legal standard than any other disability discrimination case. 鈥淭his decision from a unanimous Supreme Court recognizes that all students with disabilities are entitled to an education free of disability discrimination. Students with disabilities should not be subject to unfair legal barriers that prevent them from vindicating their rights simply because the discrimination they face occurs in schools,鈥� said Zoe Brennan-Krohn, director of the 糖心Vlog鈥檚 Disability Rights Program. 鈥淒isability discrimination is often the result of indifference and carelessness, and the Supreme Court today reaffirmed that discrimination, even if not motivated by malice, is illegal in schools. We鈥檙e glad the Supreme Court affirmed schoolchildren don鈥檛 have to meet a higher legal standard to vindicate their rights. This ruling is a critical step toward ensuring that all students with disabilities receive the support to which they are legally entitled, allowing them to learn, thrive, and participate fully in their education.鈥� The case involves a teenage student who, because of her disability, required evening instruction. The Osseo Area Schools refused to accommodate her parents鈥� repeated requests for evening instruction, resulting in her receiving less instruction than her peers. The court below held that, because the student could not prove that this denial was the result of 鈥渂ad faith or gross misjudgment,鈥� the student had no legal recourse. Today鈥檚 unanimous Supreme Court decision reversed that holding. The ruling is here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-249_a86c.pdf

WASHINGTON 鈥� The U.S. House of Representatives today passed H.R. 1, the so-called One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, that attacks civil liberties and cuts Medicaid by at least $600 billion, the largest cut in the program鈥檚 history. The reconciliation bill now moves to the Senate. Medicaid is a lifeline for more than 70 million people, including more than 15 million people with disabilities. An estimated ten to 15 million people could lose their health insurance coverage under the bill. Medicaid pays for mental health services, treatment for opioid use disorder, and the care workers that allow our disabled and aging neighbors to live in and work in their homes and communities instead of dehumanizing institutions. Beyond the disastrous effects on Medicaid, this pernicious bill also attacks other important civil liberties. For instance, it increases funding dramatically for an immigration detention and deportation apparatus that is denying due process and violating human rights obligations. It also restricts access to preventive health care by blocking Medicaid patients from seeking care at Planned Parenthood health centers and undermines reproductive freedom by placing a ban on coverage for abortion care in the private health insurance marketplace. Deirdre Schifeling, ACLU's chief political and advocacy officer, had the following reaction to the bill鈥檚 passage: 鈥淟et鈥檚 be clear: The House majority voted for a bill that takes healthcare away from millions, including people with disabilities, and blocks access to reproductive health care in order to spend $45 billion 鈥� with a B 鈥� taxpayer dollars to detain and deport millions of people 鈥� tearing apart families, imprisoning children, harming workplaces, and throwing people into foreign gulags without any evidence and in violation of our laws and constitution. This bill puts millions of people in every single state and congressional district closer to rationing medications, missing essential treatments, and unable to access the care they need when they need it or the home care workers and aides they need 鈥� who are disproportionately women of color 鈥� in order to stay healthy and safe. This is Making America Healthy Again? 鈥淭he bill asks poor and disabled Americans to pay more for medical care and imposes burdensome work requirements and bureaucratic paperwork designed to exclude people from the coverage they need. Let鈥檚 call this what it is: taking Medicaid away from sick people and low-income families in order to fund tax cuts for billionaires and turbocharge deporting immigrants who have lived, worked, and raised their families here for years. 鈥淭he Senate must do its job, represent their constituents, and reject this upside-down world bill."