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Congressional Schedule
The House and Senate are both in session this week and will be working on appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security which expire on Friday. The House will also begin debate on a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, H.R. 5.
Budget and Appropriations
AUCD has joined over 2,100 national, state, and local organizations in the "NDD United" coalition to sign a letter to Congress and the President urging them to replace sequestration with a balanced approach to deficit reduction. NDD stands for non-defense discretionary, the part of the budget that provides annual funding for health, education, human services, employment services and other programs that serve people with disabilities, including UCEDDs, LENDs, and IDDRCs. Deficit reduction and sequester cuts have disproportionately impacted this section of the budget. AUCD continues to work with coalitions like NDD United and the Coalition for Health Funding to replace sequestration and other cuts to discretionary programs. See Sequestration 101 for more information on this budget cutting mechanism. Learn more at NDDUnited.org.
The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies will hold two hearings this week. The first will be a hearing on Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services; Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell will testify. The second will be an oversight hearing on "The Vital Responsibility of Serving the Nations Aging and Disabled Communities." The witnesses will be Carolyn Colvin, Acting Social Security Commissioner, and Kathy Greenlee, Administrator of the Administration for Community Living.
Education
The House of Representatives is scheduled to consider the Student Success Act (H.R. 5), a bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) this Thursday and Friday. The Rules Committee will meet on Wednesday to determine which amendments will be 'in order.' AUCD has signed on to a Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) letter to the Rules Committee asking the committee to prevent amendments that will remove the accountability mechanism from H.R. 5. AUCD has also signed on to a CCD letter supporting the Ranking Member Scott's substitute bill to HR 5, which includes provisions that support students with disabilities right to have equal access and opportunity with their peers in public school. AUCD also joined with the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights (LCCHR) on similar letters.
In the Senate, Chairman Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Murray (D-WA) continue to negotiate the outlines of a bipartisan agreement on ESEA reauthorization. Chairman Alexander has stated that he would like the full Senate to pass a bill by the end of March.
Social Security
This week, the House Ways & Means Social Security Subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Maintaining the Disability Insurance Trust Fund's Solvency." A witness list has not yet been posted. Last week, the Senate Budget Committee held a similar hearing on "Social Security Trust Fund Insolvency." AUCD joined other members of the CCD Social Security Task Force in signing a statement for the record supporting a small reallocation of the payroll tax between the trust funds to ensure operations of both Disability Insurance and Old Age and Survivors Insurance for another 17 years. Learn more in last week's In Brief.
President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities
The President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities (PCPID) held their first meeting of 2015 on February 19 and 20. They heard from guest speakers and discussed the content of the 2015 PCPID Report to the President, which will focus on technology. The report should be released in May 2015. Last week, Liz Weintraub, a member of the committee, interviewed the committee chair Julie Petty for her Tuesdays with Liz video series.
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For definitions of terms used in In Brief, please see AUCD's Glossary of Legislative Terms
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