Republicans Vs Disabled Children

by Stuart Shaprio

When you propose a budget with $61 billion in cuts, you are going to hit some sympathetic targets.  And you deserve to be mocked for your heartlessness as a result.

Food safety, family planning, cancer research, and low-income housing—now add the Special Olympics to the long list of organizations and federal programs targeted for major funding cuts by congressional Republicans.

The House GOP’s budget, which passed last month, takes a hatchet to programs for disabled kids and Special Olympics athletes. The proposed cuts could force the closure of at least one Special Olympics program, which is funded through the Department of Education. Dubbed Project UNIFY, the program serves more than 750,000 students in 43 states and draws from techniques used in Special Olympics training for activities in public schools.

It can’t be repeated enough.  Getting control of deficits is important in the long run, but it is not going to be done by eliminating programs that cost $8.1 million.  It’s only going to be done by cutting defense, dealing with cost growth in Medicare, and raising taxes.  Everything else is just rounding error.  Except that it is a rounding error with real human costs.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.