Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty
President Donald Trump’s administration is again seeking to cut its funding for the Special Olympics — a move that met with vocal Democratic disapproval on Capitol Hill this week and which both the Kennedy family and some ESPN personalities also criticized.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, under questioning from a Democratic representative on Tuesday, said she did not know how many children would be affected if the proposed $17.6 million cut went into effect.
“I’ll answer it for you, that’s okay, no problem,” Rep. Mark Pocan replied. “It’s 272,000 kids.”
DeVos, who was speaking before a House subcommittee about the administration’s proposed budget for the next year, reiterated that she believes “the Special Olympics is an awesome organization.”
On Tuesday, as Pocan began to question DeVos about the Special Olympics specifically, she cut in: “Let me just say again we had to make some difficult decisions with this budget.”
Ina subsequent statementdecrying the news coverage of the proposed budget, DeVos said that “given our current budget realities, the federal government cannot fund every worthy program, particularly ones that enjoy robust support from private donations.”
The president has asked to cut about 10 percent of the Education Department’s budget for fiscal year 2020 in what an official described as a “desire to have some fiscal discipline and address some higher priority needs,”according to theNew York Times.
However, a president’s budget proposal is just that: It requires Congressional approval — or Congress can ignore it entirely — and even Republican lawmakers have split with Trump over some of his requests. Last year they actually increased the Education budget.
This year, with Democrats controlling the House, Trump’s budget faces even grimmer prospects.
On Twitter this week,DeVos wrotethat “freedom and flexibility for teachers is a key part of the 2020 budget.”
“Teachers are our students’ champions,” she wrote. “They deserve to be given the freedom to pursue professional development in ways that work for them, and to benefit from high-quality mentoring and residency programs.”
It was the Special Olympics cuts, as well as other proposed cuts to money for special education and students with special needs, that drew Democratic ire.
After listing off possible funding reductions to state-level special education grants and programs for blind students, Rep. Pocan asked DeVos, “What is it that we have a problem with, with children who are in special education?”
Rep. Barbara Lee went further, telling DeVos: “I still can’t understand why you would go after disabled children in your budget. You zero that out. It’s appalling.”
DeVos said that overall support for special education remained robust: “Supporting children with special needs, we have continued to hold that funding at a level amount and in the context of a budget proposal that is a 10 percent reduction.”
The budget would also keep “the same level of funding for core special education programs, including grants to states under the department’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,”CNN reports.
On social media, some ESPN employees spoke out in dismay about the proposed slashing to the Special Olympics,according to theWashington Post. The network is the “global media partner” for the Special Olympics and, thePostreports, has aired its events for more than 30 years.
Responding to a tweet about Trump’s 2020 budget proposal, ESPN analyst Julie Foudywrote on Tuesday, “The world needs more @SpecialOlympics. The joy those athletes pass on is absolutely contagious.”
ESPN’s Kenny Maynetweeted: “Our family supports Special Olympics. Likewise the company I work for.”
On Facebook, Eunice Shriver’s daughter Maria Shriver described the called-for cuts “outrageous in every way.”
“Let’s let our voices be heard,” she wrote in a comment on an article about the budget proposal. “No cutting Special Olympics.”
Despite her support for funding cuts, DeVos has a personal connection to the Special Olympics: She worked as a mentor for the group,according to theNew York Times, and donated some of her secretary salary there last year.
A spokeswoman told CNN that Devos is “personally supportive of Special Olympics and its mission.”
source: people.com
