AUCD’s Community Inclusion Team supports the University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) Network in partnership with the Administration for Community Living.
AUCD’s Maternal and Child Health Engagement supports the Autism CARES Programs, including LEND and DBP Programs.
AUCD’s Public Health Team works to create health promotion and public health efforts that include people with disabilities.
AUCD Emerging Leaders are a part of a community that includes trainees, early career professionals, self-advocates, and family members from AUCD member Centers and Programs.
AUCD's Disability Policy News (DPN) is a weekly newsletter highlighting federal policy issues affecting people with disabilities and their families. DPN features updates in plain language and action steps that people can take to educate policymakers. DPN is published every Friday.
Note: This will be the last issue of Disability Policy News before we take a break for the summer.
In this edition:
The House Appropriations Committee released the Fiscal Year 2027 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill, which funds AUCD programs. The bill proposes a four percent cut to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a 10 percent cut to the Department of Education. On June 5, it was marked up and passed by the LHHS subcommittee on an 11-7 party line vote. The bill now heads to the full House Appropriations Committee for its consideration on June 9.
Additionally, Congressional Republicans are moving forward with their second party-line budget reconciliation bill this Congress. The Senate passed the bill early Friday morning. It will fund immigration enforcement operations under the Department of Homeland Security and now heads to the House.
Without report language, we don’t yet have line-item figures for AUCD programs, but we do know that the Administration for Community Living is level-funded ($2.5 billion) and the Health Resources and Services Administration received a funding cut ($7.6 billion for HRSA, a decrease of $440 million below the 2026 level).
Congress needs to pass government spending bills to make sure the government is funded in 2027. Before Congress can vote on those bills, committees in the House and Senate need to first review them. This is a process called a markup and the committees are called appropriations committees. Appropriations means money that is set aside by Congress for a particular use. The appropriations process happens once a year. Money is sometimes requested by the President’s Administration or by Congress for a specific use.
Right now, Congress is in the middle of its appropriations process for 2027 funding. The Senate and the House both have committees that work on appropriations. Within those committees, they have special groups (called subcommittees) that focus on health, work, and education laws. The appropriations bill that this subcommittee works on is called the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) bill. This bill gives money to programs in the AUCD Network: University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Programs, and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRCs). The House subcommittee that works on health, work, and education passed their bill this past week. They cut some funding for programs in the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education. The House bill was passed by only Republicans, so it was not bipartisan. Bipartisan means something is supported by both Democrats and Republicans.
In the House Appropriations LHHS bill, the Administration for Community Living got the same amount of money as usual. UCEDDs are under the Administration for Community Living. The Health Resources and Services Administration, which is in charge of the LENDs, got a funding cut. We will know more information when we get the report from the committee, which will have more details.
At the same time, there is a process called budget reconciliation that Congressional Republicans are working on. This is different than appropriations. Congressional Republicans want to pass a bill to give money to the part of the Department of Homeland Security that includes immigration police: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). They are using a special process called reconciliation. This process can be used for bills that are about spending money. It can be used when the same political party (Republicans or Democrats) are in charge of the Senate, the House, and the Presidency. This is because you don’t need as many lawmakers to vote ‘yes.’ It is usually used when lawmakers in one political party (either Democrat or Republican) want to pass bills they know the other political party wouldn’t like very much. On Friday morning, Senate Republicans passed this bill. The House of Representatives has to vote on it next.
View past issues of Disability Policy News to learn more about AUCD's policy priorities and how you can engage in policy actions.
