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DonViejo

(60,536 posts) Wed Mar 27, 2019, 01:40 PM Mar 2019

Special Olympics chairman fires back at DeVos over proposed cuts

BY TAL AXELROD - 03/27/19 01:23 PM EDT

The chairman of the Special Olympics is firing back at Education Secretary Betsy DeVoss after she cut all federal funding for Special Olympics in her department’s proposed budget for fiscal 2020.

“The federal government, if it believes in full inclusion, and it does, our Constitution, our Declaration and our laws tell us we do, and if the federal government has a role to support that, it ought to be investing in kids with special needs," Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver said on MSNBC Wednesday.

“Give these young people the chance to shine, to tell their stories, as you’ve heard. The country is starving for this.”

DeVos defended her proposed cuts to the program’s funding Tuesday before a House subcommittee, saying she had to make “some difficult decisions” and noting that various philanthropic efforts also support Special Olympics.

“While the philanthropic traditions we have of volunteerism and private support are important, we’re now in a new ballgame of trying to educate young people about the importance of an inclusive mindset to the future of the country,” Shriver said in response.

“Our schools are hungry for a different message. Our young people believe that everybody counts. They have not lost that hope and dream. The Special Olympics movement today is giving them a chance to live it out.”

more + video
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/436063-special-olympics-chairman-fires-back-at-devos-over-proposed

8 replies

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Highlight:

Special Olympics chairman fires back at DeVos over proposed cuts (Original Post) DonViejo Mar 2019 OP

Trump claims the economy is the best ever in the whole universe, The Velveteen Ocelot Mar 2019 #1

This message was self-deleted by its author Freethinker65 Mar 2019 #2

Yet we somehow have the money to go ahead with Trump's area51 Mar 2019 #3

It was a difficult decision, Timothy gratuitous Mar 2019 #4

Special Olympics chairman: How low can you go? Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Mar 2019 #5

After watching trump mock mercuryblues Mar 2019 #6

While Eunace Kennedy Shriver founded it, I thought most participants came from Conservative homes. TheBlackAdder Mar 2019 #7

Yeah, where is a certain Mr. Schwarzenegger in all of this? Trailrider1951 Mar 2019 #8

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,835 posts)

1. Trump claims the economy is the best ever in the whole universe,

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Wed Mar 27, 2019, 01:59 PM

Mar 2019

so why are programs like Special Olympics, Meals on Wheels, PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts, whose collective budgets could be covered by the spare change found under Trump's cabinet members' couch cushions, too expensive to fund?

Just wondering.

Response to The Velveteen Ocelot (Reply #1)

Freethinker65 This message was self-deleted by its author.

area51

(11,920 posts)

3. Yet we somehow have the money to go ahead with Trump's

Reply to The Velveteen Ocelot (Reply #1)

Wed Mar 27, 2019, 02:12 PM

Mar 2019

space farce.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)

4. It was a difficult decision, Timothy

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Wed Mar 27, 2019, 02:15 PM

Mar 2019

And you damn betcha Betsy wasn't giving back any of that massive tax cut she got last year. Oh, and did you know that by hiking the personal exemption to $12,000, the tax cut bill heavily discouraged people from making charitable donations? If you're getting a $12,000 exemption anyway, what's the point of lower wage Americans giving money to Special Olympics, or Meals on Wheels, or Doctors Without Borders? They're not going to be able to itemize those as they did in the past unless they pony up more than $12,000 (or $24,000 if they submit a joint return with their spouse) in deductible contributions for the year.

Besides, that $18 million Special Olympics was sucking up this year? That's almost 16 minutes of the annual defense budget. 16 minutes! What if we weren't able to pay Betsy's mercenary brother for all his fine work for the defense department? Where, at long last, is your conscience, your heart, America? Do you want to see wealthy people do with less? Well, DO YOU?

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(108,186 posts)

5. Special Olympics chairman: How low can you go?

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Wed Mar 27, 2019, 02:17 PM

Mar 2019

Betsy Devos: Hold mah beer

mercuryblues

(14,537 posts)

6. After watching trump mock

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Wed Mar 27, 2019, 02:57 PM

Mar 2019

a person with disabilities during a campaign rally and they voted for him anyway can not claim surprise at this action. Republicans in general try to de-fund and roll back legislation to protect their rights. I sure wish supporters of the republican party would at least educate themselves on what they are voting for.

This article from 2011

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/budget-cuts-special-olympics/

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.

or we could have had HRC who has worked and advocated for children since her college days.

TheBlackAdder

(28,211 posts)

7. While Eunace Kennedy Shriver founded it, I thought most participants came from Conservative homes.

Reply to DonViejo (Original post)

Wed Mar 27, 2019, 04:22 PM

Mar 2019

.

Knowing the pettiness of Trump's orbit, I'm sure this is an attack on the Kennedy Shrivers.

I thought that more of the participants were from conservative, or right to life families, than not.

It seems like such a minuscule amount of money to deny these kids the experiences the program provides.

How heartless is that "Christian" DeVos family?

.

Trailrider1951

(3,414 posts)

8. Yeah, where is a certain Mr. Schwarzenegger in all of this?

Reply to TheBlackAdder (Reply #7)

Wed Mar 27, 2019, 07:27 PM

Mar 2019

Conservative republican as he is? He should be all over this topic, given his past support of Special Olympics! Or was that support just image management, instead of heart-felt? These a$$holes truly disgust me.

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