- Trump and McMahon further dismantle Department of Education, moving programs to Department of Labor, Interior, and HHS. The relocated programs include Title 1, teacher training grants, English learner programs, TRIO, adult education, Native education, foreign language programs, foreign med-school accreditation, and student-parent grants.
The move of programs along with DoEd’s press release touting an increased focus on vocational training and workplace preparedness, suggests a dangerous shift for pubic education. Students deserve a robust education no matter their income bracket, geographic locations, etc. Disabled students at Title 1 or Native education programs will likely be intersectionally harmed without DoED oversight.
The increased focus on workplace and vocational language and placement is particularly concerning with respect to the Trump administration’s rollback of many child labor laws earlier in the year.
Special education will stay within DoED for now, though it is unclear what work or oversight is happening due to the firing of OSERS employees during the shutdown, who have not been reinstated. Project 2025 also proposes eventually carving up special education to be moved to Department of Labor and HHS. - Many students in health and education professionals will face issues securing federal loans due to graduate degree reclassification. The government proposed a cap on Graduate Plus loans for all but a very small number of “professional degrees” this week. Previously, graduate degrees in fields like Education, Nursing, Social Work, Public Health, Occupational Physical and Speech Therapy, Audiology, Counseling, Engineering and others were eligible for an extended $200,000 cap on federal loans.
Without access to funding, only the wealthy will be able to access graduate level degrees in a variety of fields, many of which are already experiencing staffing shortages. Healthcare and education fields also tend to be women and/or BIPOC-dominated; the goal of lessening of women’s employment outside the home was outlined in Project 2025. - RFK Jr. orders CDC to include false information about vaccines and autism on official website, despite previous walk-backs of his claims. The changes came to the website late this week, and mark another dangerous shift in ableist and eugenic rhetoric by the department, further hampering the public’s access to quality, evidence-based scientific health information.
The US is already on the precipice of losing its measles-free designation within the next several months due to antivax rhetoric and fearmongering. - Despite government reopening and multiple court orders, many SNAP/EBT recipients still have not received November benefits, as USDA threatens to “completely deconstruct” the program and/or force everyone to reapply.
Many of the Democratic politicians who voted in favor of ending the government shutdown cited concern about the illegal withholding of SNAP benefits, but that has continued in the days since. Some states blame a software glitch, while other delays are unspecified. Governors also reported LIHEAP (subsidies for heating and cooling homes) and Head Start delays.
The Secretary of the USDA also released a frightening proposal about how to revamp the program to decrease expenses and prevent “fraud.” However, most SNAP fraud is related to identity theft, card cloning, or retailer-application fraud, not recipients receiving aid who don’t need it. - Local: Abortion is now illegal in North Dakota, carrying a five year prison sentence. The state’s Supreme Court reversed another judge’s decision Friday, upholding the ban.
12 other states also currently have abortion bans at all stages of pregnancy.
Reproductive rights are a healthcare and disability justice issue, just as forcible sterilization, remains a concern for disabled people across the US. (It’s still legal to forcibly sterilize a disabled person in 31 states and DC, and the US Supreme Court case allowing it has never been overturned.) Fair reproductive healthcare is for everybody. - Trump revives first-term policy penalizing legal residents’ use of Medicaid or other assistant programs. The proposal suggests legally present, documented immigrants should not be penalized and not allowed to continue their path to permanent residency or citizenship if they have used Medicaid or other assistance programs.
This was a first-term policy that was ignored and then officially rescinded by Biden in 2022. The policy will give more power to immigration officers to make judgement calls on who might “burden” the US.
In actuality, healthcare professionals say it will burden the hospital system for all, as people will not be able to access preventative care and will have to turn to emergency rooms instead in order to see a doctor or get medication. DHS is accepting public comment on the change for the next 30 days.
Weeks 43-44 Updates
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