Ensure Support and Protection of People with Disabilities and Other Marginalized Communities
Action
Contact your Legislators–preferably by phone–and urge them to oppose cuts to SNAP, Social Security/SSI, Medicaid, Medicare, Special Education, Veterans and other program support and to restore any that have already occurred during 2025 on behalf of people with disabilities as well as all others also being deprived of their rights.
Sample script
Good morning/afternoon! I’m [your name], and I’m a constituent of [lawmaker’s title/name]. I’m calling about cuts to programs that support people with disabilities. You know, disabilities may be physical, mental or developmental. They may be very visible or something most folks don’t notice. But when the person struggling with them lacks support, they can’t reach their full potential. They suffer, and we all miss what they could otherwise offer to our country. So, I want to urge [lawmaker’s name again] to vote against any further cuts to these programs and to restore any cuts already made! Thanks for your time. Have a good day.
Background
Both houses of Congress play a role in setting the federal budget for the coming year. House Republicans passed a short-term spending plan before the summer recess. It did not include Medicaid supplements that allow some 24 million Americans to get health insurance under ACA.
The House has not been called back into session since recess, as Speaker Mike Johnson, apparently bowing to Trump’s wishes, would have to seat a Democrat (Grijalva) elected in a special election. That would be the last vote needed to force release of the Epstein files. House Democrats, meanwhile, are in Washington but are unable to advance legislation and other actions to support their constituents.
Absent a budget agreed to by both houses, the government is in shutdown. All but ‘critical’ services are furloughed. The military, air traffic controllers, and certain others are working without pay.
Senate Republicans put forward a short-term fix to fund some services. Such a fix requires a 60-vote majority. However, they left out SNAP, meaning millions who depend on it will go hungry.
Senate Democrats are united in refusing to support the ‘continuing resolution’ without restoration of Medicaid supplements and SNAP.
The Trump Administration has said that it will not use any of the $6 billion in reserve funds held by the US Department of Agriculture to fund SNAP.
Funds meant for the most at-risk members of the U.S. population are being redirected for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful, most dramatically, to Donald Trump himself. This is beyond bad governance!