July 2, 2026

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Happy Independence Day!

VOR's Weekly News Update

VOR is a national non-profit organization

run by families of people with I/DD and autism

for families of people with I/DD and autism.

Jamie Lafleur

Dec 16, 1978 — Jun 27, 2026

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jamie Lafleur, daughter of Terry and Glenda Lafleur. Terry is Vice-President and a long-standing Board member of VOR.

Born in Opelousas, Louisiana on December 16, 1978, Jamie was raised in Ville Platte and attended St. Mary and Pinecrest Schools. To her family, she was their "Special Angel", a precious gift whose gentle spirit, innocent heart, and beautiful smile brought immeasurable joy to everyone blessed to know her.

Jamie had a sweet and loving personality that touched countless lives. She found happiness in life's simple pleasures. A McDonald's hamburger was always a favorite treat, and she loved watching birds, especially doves, whose graceful presence seemed to bring her peace. She also enjoyed being around horses and delighted in petting them whenever she had the opportunity. Christmas was her favorite time of year, and nothing made her happier than opening presents and discovering a new baby doll waiting inside.

More than anything, Jamie treasured her family. She dearly loved her brother and sister and found her greatest happiness in spending time with those closest to her. Her unconditional love, gentle laughter, and joyful spirit will forever remain in the hearts of her family and friends.

The controversy surrounding the Department of Justice / Office of Legal Counsel's memorandum reinterpreting the "integration mandate" continues. Some advocates feel this offers a long-awaited opportunity to help their loved ones receive services in an intermediate care facility, while others proclaim their fears that this will bring an end to Home- and Community-Based Services and that they will be "forced into an institution". And still others believe that this is only about forcibly removing people with mental illness and substance use disorders from the streets, and that the biggest danger to Medicaid services remains the severe cuts from H.R.1 - The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that are about to take effect.

VOR is concerned that all levels of services are under assault, and that this is the time for all advocates for people in the I/DD, autism, aging, and mental health communities to stand together and fight against the cuts being made to all Medicaid services.



On this Independence Day, we hope that the true spirit of democracy, the belief in an America that cherishes and cares for its most vulnerable citizens, and the pursuit of our shared hopes and dreams will prevail.

Narrowing Olmstead: A Response to the OLC's June 2026 Memorandum

Statement from the American Bar Association, July 1, 2026

On June 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a memorandum reinterpreting the scope of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the U.S. Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C. The memo concludes that neither the ADA nor Section 504 requires states to provide services in the "most integrated setting appropriate" or creates a broad legal obligation to offer home- and community-based services. Instead, it argues that Olmstead held only that states may not unnecessarily institutionalize individuals with disabilities without adequate justification, and that the decision did not establish a general "integration mandate."

Although not binding on courts and without the force of law, the memo is likely to guide Executive Branch agencies, shaping federal enforcement priorities and substantially narrowing the government's approach to investigations, compliance, and litigation under the ADA and Section 504.

This piece will discuss—and counter—some of the key arguments made in the memo. 

First, the memo suggests that Congress prohibited disability discrimination generally, not segregation specifically. However, the factual findings that Congress relied on in enacting the ADA show otherwise. Pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 12101(a), Congress found that "[h]istorically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem." § 12101(a)(2). Congress also found that "[d]iscrimination against individuals with disabilities persists in such critical areas as... institutionalization..." Id. 12101(a)(3), and that [i]ndividuals with disabilities “continually encounter various forms of discrimination, including... segregation...." § 12101(a)(5). These statutory findings—not legislative history—demonstrate that Congress expressly identified segregation and unnecessary institutionalization as forms of disability discrimination that the ADA was enacted to eliminate.

Continued

The following article has appeared in numerous media outlets across the country.



Trump’s actions signal a move toward institutionalizing people with disabilities, advocates warn  

By Annie Ma, Associated Press via the Republican Herald, July 1, 2026

For decades, disabled people have fought for their rights to go to school and live alongside peers without disabilities — rights that some fear could be losing ground under the Trump administration.

Last month, the Education Department announced it would offload oversight of special education to the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose comments on the limits of disabilities such as autism have drawn sharp rebukes from advocates and lawmakers.

Meanwhile, following a White House push to police homelessness, the Department of Justice released guidance that lowered the barrier to institutionalizing any person with a disability.

Taken together, the actions signal a worrying return to a reality where people with disabilities are pushed to the margins of society, advocates said.

“It’s a direct, frontal assault on the rights of people with disabilities to live their lives the way that people who are nondisabled live their lives,” said Selene Almazan, legal director for the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates. “I can’t imagine that as a country, that would be something that we would agree we should go back to.”

Continued

Letter: Defend the Olmstead promise: Say no to forced institutionalization

By Carrie Allmon, The Salt Lake City Tribune, June 27, 2026

Every so often, a policy decision lands that feels like a siren, and the Department of Justice’s recent Office of Legal Council memo is exactly that. By twisting long‑settled ADA and Olmstead v. L.C. protections, this memo attempts to roll back the fundamental right of disabled Americans to live in their own communities.

We’re already seeing the consequences of this mindset. Here in Utah, state leaders recently explored building a massive forced‑treatment “campus” for unhoused people — an isolated facility where individuals could be detained and treated against their will. These ideas gain traction quickly when fear is allowed to override evidence. And the evidence is clear: forced institutionalization does not solve homelessness, mental illness or substance use. It simply hides people from public view while stripping them of autonomy and connection.

I’m asking readers and elected officials to reject any policy that chips away at the Olmstead promise, whether it comes from Washington or our own statehouse. Protecting the right to live in freedom, whether it comes from Washington or our own statehouse. Protecting the right to live in the community is a civil rights obligation, not an optional policy preference. And to the advocates who continue to push back against these harmful proposals: Thank you for refusing to let history repeat itself.

Read the full letter here

How Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill’ changed America

By Shannon Pettypiece and Mike Hixenbaugh, NBC News, July 1, 2026

One year after President Donald Trump signed the law he dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” on the South Lawn of the White House, it has begun reshaping the country — altering who gets help from the government and who goes without.

The most consequential legislation of Trump’s second term reaches into nearly every corner of American life. It supercharges immigration enforcement, pouring billions into border security and deportations. It rewrites student loan rules. It dismantles tax incentives for electric vehicles and clean energy. It creates a national school-voucher tax credit.

And at its core is a seismic shift: extending roughly $4.5 trillion in tax cuts disproportionately benefiting corporations and the wealthy over 10 years while cutting about $1.1 trillion from healthcare and food assistance programs serving poor and working-class people.

It ultimately adds a projected $4.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

Historians say the law represents a watershed moment in a decadeslong conservative effort to shrink the social welfare system built during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and expanded through Great Society legislation of the 1960s. To Chris Howard, a professor of public policy at the College of William & Mary and an expert on America’s safety net programs, the result amounts to “Robin Hood in reverse.”

“It deliberately targets some of the most vulnerable members of society,” he said, “while providing huge windfalls to the richest individuals and to big business.”

Supporters frame the act as a long-overdue correction. They argue it’s reducing dependence on government programs, rooting out waste, encouraging work and making American businesses more competitive. 

Continued

State Medicaid directors defend program integrity as Dems cry foul in House hearing

By Rebecca Pifer Parduhn, Healthcare Dive, June 25, 2026

The Trump administration says its war on fraud applies to the entire country. But only blue states have had their Medicaid funding threatened or deferred.

Democrats are losing patience with what they see as Republicans’ hypocritical fixation on combating fraud in Medicaid.

A House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee hearing Thursday laid bare the divisions between the two parties over the issue, after the CMS’ controversial decision to halt Medicaid funding to two blue states over allegations of widespread fraud in their Medicaid programs.

Republican lawmakers defended the Trump administration’s aggressive focus on fraud as long overdue and necessary to protect taxpayer dollars. However, Democrats slammed the crusade as a smokescreen for President Donald Trump’s war against blue states, and an attempt to divert attention from GOP cuts to healthcare programs.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear that under [CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet] Oz, CMS does not intend to work with states in good faith, particularly states that do not vote or did not vote for President Trump,” Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said during the hearing.

Measuring fraud is difficult, given it can only be identified after the fact. Last year, state Medicaid fraud units reported some $2 billion in recoveries. However, Republicans, including the president, have been loudly beating the drum about staggering fraud in the safety-net program, bringing the issue into the national spotlight and sparking a slew of enforcement actions from regulators.

In March, Trump issued an executive order establishing a fraud-fighting task force, which has worked closely with the Department of Justice and top health officials in the CMS to root out fraud, waste and abuse.

This spring, the CMS asked all 50 states to recheck the credentials of Medicaid providers viewed to be at risk of fraud, and warned state attorneys general that Medicaid fraud control units need to comply fully with federal standards or face decertification — before decertifying Hawaii’s earlier this month.

The CMS has also threatened billions of dollars in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota, arguing that the states aren’t doing enough to curb Medicaid fraud.

Though the Trump administration’s focus on fraud has long raised eyebrows for Democrats — especially given the president’s blizzard of pardons for people convicted of fraud — withholding the states’ funding went over the line for many, given the CMS normally works collaboratively with states to administer Medicaid and address any vulnerabilities in their programs.

The aggressiveness of the CMS under Trump is a departure from the status quo, the Medicaid directors of California, Minnesota and New York testified on Thursday.

Continued

‘Not the right place to go’: Republicans plot to stop RFK Jr. from taking over special education

By Eric Garcia, The Independent, June 26, 2026

Republican senators with oversight over education in the United States plan to hold a vote to block Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from overseeing the funding and management of the nation’s special education school programs.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Education announced it would “partner” with the Department of Health and Human Services, giving RFK Jr.’s HHS oversight of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS). This was part of the Trump administration’s larger efforts to eliminate the Education Department, a long-held priority for conservative Republicans.

In addition, the department announced that the Office of Civil Rights would fall under the Department of Justice.

“It's further, it's further chaos in the system that started,” Katy Neas, the chief executive officer of the Arc and former acting secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, told The Independent.

“We have more kids with complex disabilities being successful, and we want those trends to continue,” Neas said. “And part of the reason that they, those things happened was the academic progress of kids needed to be measured and reported.”

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy told The Independent that he made an agreement with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), another member of the committee to have a vote on the matter.

“I gave Tim an agreement that we would have some sort of vote that he would like to have on the issue,” Cassidy said. Cassidy voted to confirm Kennedy last year as he sought favor with President Donald Trump while running for re-election. Cassidy had previously voted to convict Trump for his actions that led up to the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

But Trump endorsed one of Cassidy’s primary opponents, leading Cassidy to not even clear the runoff election.

OSERS focuses on helping students with education outcomes and with finding competitive integrated employment, which is to say jobs where people with disabilities are paid a competitive wage with roughly the same benefits as their peers and with non-disabled coworkers.

But the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that the office be housed in the Department of Education. 

“It's concerning that the administration is doing things that are inconsistent with the requirements in federal law,” Neas said. “And that's not a subjective statement, that's a purely objective statement.”

Special Education has long been a policy supported by Republicans. President Gerald Ford signed the Education for Handicapped Children Act. President George H.W. Bush reauthorized it as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and his son, President George W. Bush signed another reauthorization in 2004.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) both voted for the reauthorization more than 20 years ago and despite voting to confirm Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Kennedy, both voiced concerns.

“Moving programs like IDEA, for example, to HHS risks separating special education from the broader education system and shifting the focus of the law to treating disability as a medical issue rather than ensuring all students, including those with disabilities, receive a free, appropriate public education,” Collins said in a statement.

Murkowski echoed the sentiment when asked by The Independent.

“I had expressed a concern that moving it to HHS was not the right place to go,” Murkowski, a member of the Health Education Labor and Pension Committee, said.

It’s part of a series of efforts by the Trump administration to weaken protections for people with disabilities. 

Continued

Opinion: Moving Special Ed Programs to HHS Removes Siloes in the Disability System

By Rachel Barkley, Real Clear Ediucation / National Center for Public Policy, June 29, 2026

For decades, disability policy has been fragmented across multiple federal agencies as Congress created new programs. Children receive special education in one system. Young adults transition to the workplace through vocational rehabilitation in another. Community living services are administered somewhere else entirely.

Meanwhile, people with disabilities and their families are left navigating a maze of programs that change in the transition from the K12 education system to adulthood.

That’s why the decision to move the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to the Department of Health and Human Services deserves an open mind—not immediate opposition.

Let’s start with an important fact: the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is not changing.

The rights, protections, and services guaranteed under IDEA remain the law. Students will still have IEPs. Schools will still be responsible for providing a free and appropriate public education. Parents will retain all procedural safeguards. The legal framework is not moving.

What has an opportunity to change is how well our systems work together.

And frankly, that’s overdue.

For years, vocational rehabilitation has helped many individuals prepare for employment. But employment outcomes for people with disabilities remain far too low. Only 42% of people with disabilities participate in the labor force, compared with a rate nearly twice as high among nondisabled prime-age adults. Too many students leave school without a clear path to a meaningful career, education, or training path. And often, there is a lack of a support system once they leave the K12 structure. Talented individuals remain underemployed despite their skills, education, and ambition.

A recent national poll conducted by Able Americans found that a majority of voters (58%) believe more should be done to address barriers facing Americans with disabilities who want to work and are able to do so. Doing more of the same will not solve that problem.

This move places special education and vocational rehabilitation at HHS, where the Administration for Community Living (ACL) already exists.

ACL already houses much of the nation’s disability infrastructure, including the Developmental Disabilities Network, Centers for Independent Living, Protection and Advocacy systems, State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, and other programs focused on helping people live, work, and thrive in their communities.

There is a precedent for this going well. Two smaller programs were moved from the Department of Education to ACL in the past: the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) and the Independent Living. Within ACL is the Administration on Disability (AoD), which is specifically focused on community integration.

Continued

Opinion: Moving special education to HHS is a step backward for students with disabilities

By Christopher Tifffany, Arizona Capitol Times, June 26, 2026

Over the past twenty years, as a special educator, as a father, and through my work alongside thousands of Arizona families, I have learned that disability does not define a person’s worth or potential. Expectations matter. Inclusion matters. Belonging matters.

That is why I am concerned by the federal government’s decision to move the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services from the U.S. Department of Education to the Department of Health and Human Services.

The long-term implications remain unclear, but this move represents more than a bureaucratic reorganization. It reflects a philosophy that risks moving our country away from viewing people with disabilities as students, neighbors, workers, friends, family members, and citizens and back toward viewing them primarily through a medical lens.

Special education is not healthcare.

Healthcare is essential, and many children with disabilities rely on medical and behavioral support. The Disabilities Education Act is not a medical program. It is a civil rights law grounded in the belief that children with disabilities belong in classrooms alongside their peers and deserve the opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute to society.

Healthcare and education are partners, but they serve different purposes. Improving coordination between the two systems is a worthy goal, but coordination does not require relocation.

Families know the current system is imperfect. I know that both professionally and personally. Parents often struggle to navigate complicated processes, and schools and families sometimes find themselves in conflict. Those realities deserve honest acknowledgment. But the answer is to strengthen the educational framework, not move away from it.

For decades, disability advocates, self-advocates, families, and policymakers have worked to move our nation beyond viewing people with disabilities primarily as patients to be managed. We have embraced a different vision, one rooted in inclusion, self-determination, and community participation.

In Arizona, approximately 90% of the state’s 200,000 students with disabilities are educated in public schools under IDEA. For these children and families, school is more than a service delivery system. It is where children learn alongside their peers, where communities learn that differences enrich us all, and where society begins to realize the promise that every person has value and belongs.

I see that promise every day, and I see it in my own son.

At nineteen years old, he is not a diagnosis or a collection of deficits to be managed. He is a son, a friend, and a young man with strengths, dreams, and inherent dignity. Like every person, he deserves to be valued and included.

People with disabilities are not problems to be solved. They are sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors. They are classmates, coworkers, and citizens. They belong, not on the margins of society, but at its heart.

For nearly fifty years, our nation has been moving, sometimes imperfectly and often unevenly, toward that vision. We should be careful not to lose sight of it now.

Continued

Trump cuts New York funding for Medicaid fraud unit

By Jody Godoy, Reuters, June 30, 2026

The Trump administration said on Tuesday it would ​cut off funding to New York's Medicaid fraud unit, accusing ‌it of underperforming in a move that could jeopardize the state's eligibility to receive federal funding for low-income healthcare.

New York has lagged behind other ​large states in the number of criminal cases brought in ​recent years, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ⁠wrote in a letter to Attorney General Letitia James.

James oversees the ​Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a body that investigates and prosecutes fraud ​by healthcare providers.

The unit has achieved results in civil cases and shown improvement this year on criminal cases, HHS said, while concluding the improvement is not ​enough and denying it federal certification.

"The only people this decision ​benefits are the criminals we investigate every day. We are considering all legal ‌options ⁠to stop this outrageous action," James said in a statement.

Vice President JD Vance is overseeing the interagency fraud crackdown that led to the move. The former Ohio senator is seen as a contender for ​the Republican presidential nomination ​in 2028.

HHS ⁠pulled Hawaii's Medicaid fraud unit funding earlier this month. The state has asked for reconsideration.

Without federally certified Medicaid ​fraud units, states' broader Medicaid funding could be ​in jeopardy.

Around ⁠6.4 million people in New York are enrolled in Medicaid, the health program for low-income Americans.

Continued

Maryland delays disability services cuts, but advocates warn relief is temporary

By Kiersten Hacker, Union-Bulletin, July 2, 2026

Maryland disability advocates and caregivers braced for sweeping cuts to Developmental Disabilities Administration services Wednesday — then learned the night before that the state was delaying key changes, leaving families scrambling to understand what the postponements mean and whether the relief will last.

The delays offer temporary respite to thousands of Maryland families who rely on the state’s self-directed services program, which allows people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to hire and manage their own caregivers. But advocates say the reprieve does little to resolve the underlying turmoil — wage cuts, hour limits and licensing requirements are still coming, and the state’s last-minute reversals have left families, caregivers and small service providers unable to plan.

“This has just been such a roller coaster of emotions. It’s like the DDA will implement, or say that they’re creating a new policy, and we’re just constantly pivoting, and then it’s changed back,” said Michelle DeFeo, coleader of Concerned Citizens of Self Direction Maryland.

“It’s really undue stress” that could have been alleviated, she said, if there were “true stakeholder input and (a) responsible workgroup that actually went into this and did studies.”

In March, state lawmakers passed a budget with $127 million in cuts to disability services, cutting caregiver wages and limiting hours for family-paid care in the self-directed services program.

State officials justified the cuts by pointing to federal Medicaid requirements. Maryland participates in a Medicaid waiver program for self-directed services, and to maintain that funding, the state must demonstrate “cost neutrality” — meaning the cost of caring for someone at home or in a community setting cannot exceed what it would cost to place them in an institution.

Maryland recalculated cost neutrality — finding that home and community care costs had grown close enough to institutional care costs to put federal funding at risk — and pointed to those calculations as justification for the budget cuts.

Continued

Ohio ponders commission as step to solving direct care worker shortage 

By Kimberly Bonvissuto, McKnights Senior Living, June 29, 2026

Ohio lawmakers are eyeing a statewide approach to strengthening the direct care workforce as the state’s older adult population grows and the demand for aging services increases.

Sponsored by state Reps. Darnell Brewer (D-Cleveland) and Jodi Salvo (R-Bolivar), HB 530 would establish a commission tasked with examining Ohio’s direct care workforce shortage and recommending solutions to lawmakers. 

Specifically, the bill would establish the Long-Term Care Workforce Study Commission to examine:

• Current and future demand for direct care workers
• Statewide recruitment campaigns
• Career ladders and advancement opportunities
• Training needs
• Educational pathways
• Hiring barriers
• Job quality improvements
• Shared staffing models
• Potential funding mechanisms and pilot programs

“The bill creates a structured forum for examining workforce challenges and developing recommendations, which aligns with the issues our assisted living providers face daily,” OALA Executive Director Melissa Shanmugam told McKnight’s Senior Living. “Its purpose is to bring stakeholders together to study the workforce landscape and identify potential solutions.”

The Ohio Health Care Association, the state affiliate of the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living, said HB 530 presents an “important opportunity” to build on the work of the state’s Nursing Home Quality and Accountability Task Force, which provided a roadmap for strengthening Ohio’s long-term care workforce and improving quality outcomes.

Read the full article here

Kentucky’s most vulnerable need more support, not less care - Medicaid cuts will irreparably damage a fragile ecosystem of aid

By Doug Hoyt, Kentucky Lantern, June 29, 2026

In 1947, Wendell and Edith Foster were determined to support their daughter, Louise, and seven other children in Owensboro, all of whom had disabilities. This was not the norm, nor was it popular, but it was their mission. Seventy-nine years later, Wendell Foster remains a nonprofit with that same mission: empower people with disabilities. It is my privilege and honor to witness and participate in that empowerment every day.

At Wendell Foster, we like to refer to that empowerment and successes as YES! Moments. YES! Moments are those times when you achieve something or reach a goal that causes you to celebrate and shout, “YES!” For the people we serve, it is taking their first step, saying “I love you” to their mom for the first time, driving after being told they never would, or living and thriving in the community. I have the privilege of seeing and celebrating these YES! Moments firsthand every day.

Today, Wendell Foster and Kentucky are at a crossroads when it comes to supporting people with disabilities. Much of our funding support comes from Medicaid. Recently, Gov. Andy Beshear announced that many providers, including therapies and waiver programs, will suffer a 4% cut in Medicaid reimbursement beginning Aug. 1. Gov. Beshear stated that he must make cuts to Kentucky Medicaid to ensure the future of the program. 

Thankfully, the Governor has discretion over how he approaches funding cuts: he can maintain funding for these programs that support over 20,000 of the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable citizens, or he can cut Medicaid reimbursement rates for these lifeline services and put our system in jeopardy.

Currently, Wendell Foster and all providers in Kentucky are operating under Medicaid reimbursement rates below the levels recommended by a multi-year rate study conducted by the Department for Medicaid Services. Simply put, our therapy and waiver programs already operate at a financial loss today. Further reducing reimbursement rates would irreparably damage our fragile system of support, leaving people with disabilities and their families with limited or no choices.

Unlike other healthcare services, waiver services are solely funded by the Medicaid program. There are no other revenue sources to offset reductions. Reduced reimbursement rates would force providers to make difficult decisions about retaining staff and services. Any rate reductions will cause providers, including Wendell Foster, to reduce services, decrease the number of direct support professionals, or close programs altogether.

The hard truth is that cutting reimbursement rates for these critical services does not save money or decrease the need for support. When rates are cut, people with disabilities are often left with few options and are forced to seek care in far more expensive settings, such as hospitals, institutions, or nursing homes.

I call on Governor Beshear and state leaders to carefully consider the consequences of any Medicaid reimbursement cuts. Further cuts to rates that are already inadequate will jeopardize services and place Kentucky’s most vulnerable citizens at risk.

Now is not the time to place blame.

Now is not the time to point fingers.

Now is the time to rally to support those who need it most.

Now is the time to work together to help create and celebrate more YES! Moments for people with disabilities.

Read the full editorial here

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In appreciation of their good work and kind hearts, VOR offers free digital memberships to any DSP who would like to receive our newsletter.

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[Please click on blue link to view information about the bill]

VOR SUPPORTS:



S.4889 - Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) - The Supporting Our Direct Care Workforce and Family Caregivers Act - A bill to award grants for the creation, recruitment, training and education, retention, and advancement of the direct care workforce and to award grants to support family caregivers. 



H.R.6137 / S.3211 - Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-NJ) and Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) - Recognizing the Role of Direct Support Professionals - A bill to require the Office of Management and Budget to consider revising the Standard Occupational Classification system to establish a separate code for direct support professionals

H.R4849 / S.2556 - Rep. Adam Grey (D-CA) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) Protecting Health Care and Lowering Costs Act of 2025 - To repeal health-related portions of An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14 (Public Law 119-21, The One Big Beautiful Bill Act)

H.R.8736 - Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) - Restoration of Employment Choice for Adults with Disabilities Act - To amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to ensure workplace choice and opportunity for young adults with disabilities. 

H.R.6766 / S.3492 - Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) - Essential Caregivers Act - To amend titles XVIII and XIX of the Social Security Act to require skilled nursing facilities, nursing facilities, intermediate care facilities for the intellectually disabled, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities to permit essential caregivers access during any period in which regular visitation is restricted.

H.R.4796 - Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA) - Restoring Essential Healthcare Act -To amend Public Law 119-21 (The One Big Beautiful Bill Act) to repeal the prohibition on making payments under the Medicaid program to certain entities.

H.R.4807 - Rep Greg Landsman (D-OH) - Protect Our Hospitals Act - To amend Public Law 119-21 to repeal certain changes to provider taxes under the Medicaid program. 

H.R.1262 & S.932 - Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) "Give Kids A Chance Act" - To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to molecularly targeted pediatric cancer investigations. This bill would renew research into pediatric cancers and includes increasing funding for rare diseases, some of which cause Intellual and developmental disabilities and autism.  

H.R.1509 & S.752 - Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) & Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

Accelerating Kids' Access to Care Act -

This bill would amend titles XIX and XXI of the Social Security Act to streamline the enrollment process for eligible out-of-state providers under Medicaid and CHIP, and streamline enrollment under the Medicaid program of certain providers across State lines.

H.R.2598 & S.1277 - Rep Jared Huffman (D-CA) and Sen Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) The IDEA Full Funding Act

To amend part B of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to provide full Federal funding of such part.

S.2279 - Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO)

A bill to repeal the changes to Medicaid State provider tax authority and State directed payments made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and provide increased funding for the rural health transformation program.

H.R.1950 - Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) - Protect Social Security and Medicare Act

To protect benefits provided under Social Security, Medicare, and any other program of benefits administered by the Social Security Administration or the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

S.779 & H.R.1735 - Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) & Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX)

To amend title XIX of the Public Health Service Act to provide for prevention and early intervention services under the Block Grants for Community Mental Health Services program

H.R.2491 & S.1227 - Rep Kat Cammack (R-FL) & Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA) - The ABC Act

To require the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Commissioner of Social Security to review and simplify the processes, procedures, forms, and communications for family caregivers to assist individuals in establishing eligibility for, enrolling in, and maintaining and utilizing coverage and benefits under the Medicare, Medicaid, CHIP, and Social Security programs



VOR OPPOSES:

H.R.2743 & S.1332 - Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) & Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Raise the Wage Act - A bill to provide increases to the Federal minimum wage and for other purposes. VOR opposes the provision in this bill that would phase out section 14(c) and sheltered workshops for individuals with I/DD and autism.

S.2438 - Transformation to Competitive Employment Act (Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) - A bill to assist employers providing employment under special certificates issued under section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in transforming their business and program models to models that support people with disabilities through competitive integrated employment, to phase out the use of such special certificates, and for other purposes. 

H.R.9401 / S.4865 - Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) & Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) The Latonya Reeves Freedom Act of 2026 - A bill to prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities who need long-term services and support. The bill is "softer" than in previous years, yet still biased against institutions (without specifying ICFs) and fails to acknowledge the importance of ICFs and SNFs in a full continuum of care. 

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