Action Alert
Major Recent Events
House Committee Holds Hearing Addressing MFP; Advocates Hold Briefing
On September 5, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on several bipartisan health initiatives, including reauthorization of the Money Follows the Person (MFP) Demonstration Program. Witnesses testifying on MFP were Curtis Cunningham, Vice President, National Association of States United for Aging and Disabilities; and Matt Salo, Executive Director, National Association of Medicaid Directors. Visit the Committee
web sitefor more information or to view archived video of the hearing.
On September 6, The Arc and other advocacy organizations held a briefing for Congressional staff on reauthorization of MFP. Nicole Jorwic, Director of Rights Policy at The Arc was the moderator of the briefing. Speakers were John McCarthy, Founding Partner at Speire Healthcare Strategies, Former Medicaid Director in Ohio and DC; Margaret Gartlgruber, Vice President at RHA Health Services; Mike Oxford, Executive Director for Policy, Topeka Independent Living Resource Center; and Tyree Brown, a person who transitioned back home in Maryland. MFP provides grants to states to transition people from institutions to community based settings. According to a
report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, this program has helped over 63,000 people transition into the community and saved Medicare and Medicaid almost $1 billion as of 2013. The Arc strongly supports reauthorization of MFP.
House and Senate Conference Considers Changes to SNAP in Farm Bill
This summer, the House and Senate enacted separate versions of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (
H.R. 2; commonly known as the “Farm Bill”), to reauthorize farm programs and policy as well as the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The House’s version proposes
major cuts to basic food assistance under SNAP, while the Senate’s
bipartisan bill does not include the House’s proposed cuts to SNAP. Last week, the Farm Bill Conference held a public meeting. Conferees shared perspectives on their efforts to produce an agreement between the House and Senate to reauthorize the Farm Bill before the current authorization expires on
September 30, 2018. Visit the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry for
archived video of the meeting.
In a recent
op ed published in The Hill, The Arc’s Senior Director of Income and Housing Policy, T.J. Sutcliffe, and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality’s co-executive director, Indivar Dutta-Gupta, wrote: “The House’s partisan approach and deep cuts to SNAP not only conflict with decades of bipartisan Congressional support for the program, but also are widely opposed. Using the Senate bill as a springboard, Congress should work in a bipartisan manner to produce a final bill that strengthens SNAP, rather than decimates it.” Visit The Hill to
read the full op ed.
Senate Holds Hearing on Kavanaugh Nomination
Last week, the Senate Judiciary held a four-day hearing on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court. The first three days involved questioning on Judge Kavanaugh himself. The fourth day involved additional witnesses, including Elizabeth Weintraub, Advocacy Specialist at the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, and Jackson Corbin, a 13-year-old with Noonan Syndrome. Ms. Weintraub
testified about the importance of self-determination to her as a woman with intellectual disability and Judge Kavanaugh’s ruling in Doe Tarlow v. District of Columbia, in which he concluded that people with intellectual disability who have “never been competent” do not have a right to even have their wishes heard or considered in medical decisions (see and share
video of her testimony). Jackson’s
testimony related to the importance of the Affordable Care Act to his mother, his brother, and himself, all of whom have Noonan Syndrome, which comes with multiple pre-existing conditions. Visit the Committee web site (
Day 1,
Day 2,
Day 3,
Day 4) for more information or to view archived video of the hearing. The Arc
opposes Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Announcements
$99 Million Awarded for New Housing Vouchers for People with Disabilities
Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded $98.5 million to 285 public housing authorities across the U.S. to provide new, permanent affordable housing vouchers to nearly 12,000 non-elderly people with disabilities. The vouchers will be provided through the Section 811 Mainstream Housing Choice Voucher Program which assists non-elderly people with disabilities who are transitioning out of institutional or other segregated settings; at serious risk of institutionalization; homeless; or at risk of becoming homeless.
Click here for a comprehensive list of awards, by state. Visit the Technical Assistance Collaborative
resource page to learn more about this program and (when announced) upcoming opportunities for housing authorities to apply for additional funding.
Report on ESSA Equity Indicators Released
The Learning Policy Institute has released a
report titled “Making ESSA’s Equity Promise Real: State Strategies to Close the Opportunity Gap” on the use of suspension rates, school climate, chronic absenteeism, extended-year graduation rate, and access to a college-and career-ready curricula in their accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Students with disabilities face disparities on all five of these measures. Find out if your state is using these factors in its accountability system with these
interactive maps.
The primary election results impacted the competition between members of the legislature who are vying for leadership roles in the upcoming legislative term. One candidate for Speaker of the House lost his race, which expanded the field of candidates to four current legislators competing for the role of Speaker. In the Senate, the primary election outcomes tightened competition between two candidates who want to lead the Senate Republican caucus. Democratic legislators are also evaluating their chances for a role in leading the House and Senate caucuses. Both Republican and Democratic caucuses will elect their leaders after the November election.
