The Biden Administration

The 2020 election made a huge difference for people with disabilities in the United States. The federal government is no longer trying to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. The Biden administration is trying — despite serious missteps — to promote social solidarity, asking Americans to keep each other safe from Covid-19. We have appointees who are determined to protect education, employment and housing rights and are taking steps in those directions. In Congress, we have serious proposals on the table to expand income supports for people with disabilities, rather than continual attacks on those programs. Many Democrats realize that human services are as or more critical than physical infrastructure. Yet these victories are precarious, as the right to vote is under attack for, among others, many people with disabilities. We should not have to organize and struggle individually to cast votes, but at least in theory, organizing could overcome much voter suppression. However, plans to have state legislatures, rather than neutral public servants, count votes and decide outcomes mean that no matter how many people with disabilities and allies vote, they may not be able to affect outcomes. People with disabilities cannot ignore reality; the luxury of believing or pretending to believe lies is too dangerous. We must work together to shape an accessible, just future. The 2022 and 2024 elections, and special and off-year elections, are critical to doing that.

The Democratic Platform

Despite Trump’s sabotage of the first debate, policy positions are readily available.
Check the Democratic platform:

Check the candidate websites. The Republicans didn’t bother to draft a platform for the 2020 election, and their agenda is still to do what Trump says. Trump’s incentive for 2022 to 2024 is to generate chaos that he hopes will push voters to him in 2024. Running for and becoming president seem to be his answers to legal problems including stealing classified government documents, obstructing efforts to get them back, attempting to subvert the 2020 election in Georgia and other swing states, inciting insurrection, decades of business fraud, tax evasion, and sexual assault and defamation.

Time to Take Stock

Almost half of people with disabilities and their family members voted for Trump in 2016 — the same percentage as in the general population. He seems to have done a little better in 2020 among voters with disabilities. We cannot afford to keep voting based on family histories, geography or invitations to scapegoat people of color, immigrants and Democrats. We need a federal government that works for people. We need a fair tax system with enforcement at the top levels of income and wealth.

LOOKING AT THE FOUR YEARS OF THE Trump ADMINISTRATION

The pre-Covid Trump administration was great for the very wealthy who benefited from Republican tax cuts. Workers saw an increasingly hostile climate for organizing. For religious, racial and ethnic minorities, it was a disaster. Judges were appointed who have extremely narrow abilities of disability rights under statutes and the Constitution; two of the most glaring examples (Gorsuch and Barrett) are now on the Supreme Court. 

But things weren’t as bad as they could easily have been for the majority of Americans. Democrats and John McCain prevented the GOP from destroying the Affordable Care Act, which they proposed to do without creating an alternative for millions of Americans. The strong economy Trump inherited kept rolling along. Though Republicans continued to undermine social security and Medicare, the stock market did okay for those Americans able to save privately for retirement.

Then came Covid, which like everything else, Trump saw through the lens of self-interest. He politicized mask-wearing. He lied about danger to Americans. Fortunately, Democrats vastly expanded resources for research, treatment, vaccine development and implementation, and protecting American workers and businesses from the economic impact of Covid.  Even though moderating the impact of Covid could wind up helping Trump electorally, Democrats did what Americans needed.

Trump did what he thought would help himself.

After his negligence, recklessness, lies, and grandstanding made the US #1 in coronavirus cases and deaths, President Trump tried and failed to lure tens of thousands of supporters into a dangerous indoor rally in a state with rising coronavirus cases, where his message was aimed at further polarizing Americans. As usual, he “blamed the messenger” — media who pointed out risks — and was apparently especially upset that Covid-19 cases on the advance team he had sent to Tulsa were revealed before the rally.

Right after President Trump descended to his bunker — a step about which he later lied — his administration violently attacked peaceful protesters against racism, bringing in military and bureau of prisons assets to “dominate” the streets of our Capitol city. President Trump urged states and localities to crack down even more forcefully on protests against racism, threatening that if they didn’t, he would.  

As white Americans across the political spectrum acknowledged unavoidable evidence of systemic, structural, economically devastating, and often brutal and personalized racism, and sought change, Trump doubled down on anti-Black, anti-Latino and anti-Asian racism. 

The Trump administration decided to limit and slow-walk Congressionally funded and mandated Covid-19 testing, deliberately endangering all Americans, especially people living in congregate settings (like prisons, nursing homes, group homes, “developmental” centers), people with medical risk factors, people of color, and essential workers in medicine, agriculture, grocery delivery, and law enforcement, etc.

Supposed “pro-lifers” proposed the sacrificing of seniors and rationing of care against people with disabilities.

THINGS WERE GOING VERY BADLY IN OUR COUNTRY BEFORE THE ADMINISTRATION ALLOWED COVID-19 TO EXPLODE

The Trump administration tried nonstop to destroy the Affordable Care Act. While paying lip service to “preexisting conditions,” it proposed no alternative, and Republicans in Congress proposed horrible alternatives.

For nearly four years, the Trump administration rolled back progress on police reform, while Trump personally encouraged police brutality. The Republican-controlled Senate barely voted on legislation, instead ramming through judges likely to let this continue.

For nearly four years, the Trump administration worked to suppress Black Americans’ voting rights, and tried to use Covid-19 to intensify unequal access to voting.

The Trump administration intensified trends towards inequality of wealth and income.

The Trump administration bashed occupational and environmental safety and health regulations, causing deaths, illnesses, and injuries.

Trump’s campaign started in 2015 by lying about immigrants and inflicted enormous pain on immigrants. Had courts not blocked them, they would have deported young adults — many of them health care workers — who came to the US as children. Since Trump left office, he has doubled down on race-baiting, lies, and division.

eight Key Issues Facing People with Disabilities

1) “Uninsuring” AMerica

Nearly 20 million Americans have obtained health insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act [source]. The number would have been far greater, but Republican-controlled states refused to expand Medicaid eligibility, and with rare exceptions voters did not punish them. Instead, many blamed “Obamacare” for whatever remained wrong with the profit-driven, inefficient American health care system, which was a great deal. Though candidate Trump claimed he would usher in cheaper, better health insurance, he has done the opposite — destroying the progress that has been made since the 1930’s. Instead of faithfully executing the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) — which is still the law of the land — the Trump Administration has done all it can to sabotage it. The Administration has come down particularly hard on people with pre-existing conditions, i.e., medical conditions that are or can become disabling. As the public becomes more supportive of Medicare for All and similar proposals, the Republican Party is moving hard in the opposite direction. Covid-19 makes clear how much survival and wellbeing depend on access to medical care. Though Republican officials who have tried to end Obamacare have pointed out to constituents that they can access it, the Trump Administration has refused to open enrollment despite the pandemic.

2) Crashing Employment

The only good news for much of the Trump administration was that a tight labor market meant that some people with disabilities were more in demand. The recovery that started in 2009 continued until early 2020, little thanks to this administration or its allies in Congress. But wages were stagnant, GOP tax cuts encouraged automation, and the long-term outlook was poor. Now, because of the pandemic, the current reality and outlook are disastrous. Democrats in the House secured some protections for workers, but the Trump administration and many governors have lagged, in some cases very deliberately, in bringing legislated benefits to reality. Like other Americans, people with disabilities depend on there being a safety net to ensure survival for people for whom markets are either temporarily or permanently not working.

3) Special Education

Education is a major part of social and “occupational” life for people with disabilities from early childhood through early adulthood, and the extent to which students learn skills and make personal connections during that time has lifelong effects for them and their families. For those students with autism whose ability to speak and otherwise communicate and think in language often depends on effective educational services, special education is especially critical. President Trump has portrayed himself as a champion for students with autism whose parents report language regression following vaccines, though he has done very little on this front. Looking at what the Administration does rather than what it says, the Trump administration has done much to undermine special education using executive power. It has increased support for forms of school choice that fail to protect the rights of students with disabilities and cut back on rights enforcement for students in public schools. The good news is that Secretary DeVos has resisted Congressional invitations to roll back provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); the bad news is that that statute has become even harder to enforce, and states and localities stressed by pandemic-related loss of revenue and heightened expenses are likely to cut corners as much as they can. Special education is an investment in community and autonomy — like public education in general, its future is in grave doubt.

4) “Entitlement reform”

Also known as destroying the safety net:  Trump’s book Crippled America denounced Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The Trump administration and Republican Congress have not been stupid enough to try throwing millions of native-born, white people with disabilities off the social security (SSD and SSI) roll yet. But they have made clear that “entitlement reform” is a key priority, and are likely to pursue it if they can. So far, Republicans are attacking especially vulnerable people with disabilities — people who have been found ineligible for disability benefits or don’t know enough to apply. This includes people who earn little or no money and depend on SNAP (“food stamps”). The administration is pushing work requirements for Medicaid that favor rural, mostly white people, and penalize urban populations. The administration has moved to deny green cards and citizenship, creating a likelihood of deportation for lawful immigrants, if they use safety net programs. Not surprisingly, immigrant communities where people are afraid to seek medical care are hot spots for coronavirus outbreaks. Family members of non-citizens have been denied coronavirus relief funds. People with disabilities, and many underpaid essential workers, depend on safety net programs. There is finally interest in the mainstream of the Democratic Party in greater economic justice. Meanwhile, Republicans seek to pull off critical band-aids in the middle of a pandemic and mass unemployment and business failure.

5) Access to Public Spaces

Trump the businessman was sued on multiple occasions for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Republican House of Representatives has voted to greatly weaken the ADA. The ADA has been in effect since 1990. But most House Republicans (and sadly, a few Democrats) think that nearly 30 years later, businesses that do not comply should be shielded from responsibility. HR 620, which passed the House, would require people with disabilities to notify business of concerns, prove they tried to patronize discriminatory establishments, and wait months to sue; businesses would be required to make “progress” towards removing barriers, not actually remove them.

6) Veterans’ issues

The Trump administration has faked concern for disabled veterans in hopes of turning over more public health care dollars to for-profit institutions. The VA system has long been underfunded even as its responsibilities increase with more wars and more aging veterans. As with privatization in education, Republicans do not plan to pay for choice by putting enough money in service systems and letting people decide how to spend it. They plan to take money from existing public programs and turn it over to private businesses.

7) Environmental Issues

People with disabilities are people and depend on a planet capable of sustaining human life without extreme, destructive weather and disease events. People with limited mobility, sensory impairments and the limited incomes that often contribute to and result from disabilities are at particular risk from pandemics, hurricanes, fires and floods. Donald Trump knows as a businessman that climate change is real and his golf courses plan for it. But because he thinks his base is misinformed and gullible — and knows that owners of fossil fuel assets donate massively to Republicans while victims of climate change do not, he is stopping our country from working to slow temperature changes to a hopefully manageable “level. He has withdrawn from the Paris accord, pretends that coal can “come back” while dismantling efforts to create safer, healthier sustainable jobs in Appalachia and protect drinking water supplies there; and is trying to stop progress on fuel efficiency standards.” President Trump claims that this pandemic was unforeseeable, but it was foreseen and warned about, even within his administration. Yet rather than focusing on what we know about habitat destruction and attacks on wildlife causing terrible diseases to spread to humans, the administration prefers floating conspiracy theories and refuses to work with other countries on preventing evolution and spread of dangerous viruses. Even as the pandemic “stimulus” bill offers an opportunity to build more resilient energy sources, transportation methods, and architecture, the administration is adamant in opposing all ideas linked to the Green New Deal, no matter how good or uncontroversial. The administration heightened pandemic risk with funding and research cuts, and proposes to deepen cuts going forward.

8) CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES

People with disabilities depend on living in a system in which government aims to improve the general welfare and protects minority rights. Many on the right want “a government small enough to drown in a bathtub.” As Republican strategist Grover Norquist put it: “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub [source].” The “philosopher” who inspired Paul Ryan and many others in the Republican Party — “libertarian” Ayn Rand — opposed government support for people with disabilities [source] [source]. Contagious diseases highlight our dependence on each other. Yet this Administration not only sabotages government action, but encourages individuals to act in disregard for their own safety and that of others.

The Supreme Court

Though Chief Justice Roberts has shown some restraint, the Supreme Court has moved very far to the right, and lower courts have shifted even more dramatically. This hurts people with disabilities, people of color and working people—groups which, of course, overlap substantially.t. 

Great electoral news, but much work to do!

Democratic victory in the 2018 House of Representatives election did much to slow down Trump administration abuses, but Trump had taken executive power to new levels. While the exact numbers are unclear, it is clear that many white people with disabilities and their family members, friends, and associated professionals voted for Republicans in 2018. Of course, some people with disabilities may knowingly back candidates who oppose their economic, educational, medical, liberty and civil rights interests. Or they may see those interests completely differently from our organization's perspective. But many people with disabilities--and those who could be vital electoral allies--are open to uniting and working. We need to reach them with a 50-state strategy.

Next step: try to kill tax "reform" that is awful in its own right and will be used to justify massive spending cuts

MAKE SURE POLITICIANS KNOW THAT DISABILITY VOTERS ARE ORGANIZED AND WILL REMEMBER THEIR POSITIONS

Social Security Works put it very well on the budget, to which the tax plan is a first step:

The House Republican Budget is a Betrayal of the American People

(Washington, DC) — The following is a statement from Alex Lawson, Executive Director of Social Security Works, in reaction to the Republican budget that just passed the House:

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO blocked trump “CARE”

including

• disability activists who risked and experienced arrest and injury
• townhall participants
• people who called and wrote to Congress, and
• 51 Senators who blocked disaster

Next steps

1) ORGANIZE To win ELECTIONS

Start a Disability Voters chapter in your town, state, or congressional district. Contact us to learn how to organize a chapter with a statement of interest and some information about your interests and experience.

2) Advocate now on critical issues

Call your Congress. Learn more about the issues that most affect people with disabilities and their families.