[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 13, 2026)]
[House]
[Pages H698-H705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROTECTING EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mrs. Hayes
of Connecticut was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the
minority leader.)
General Leave
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include
extraneous material on the subject of the Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Connecticut?
There was no objection.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to lead this Special Order hour
[[Page H699]]
and to speak about a matter of great importance to millions of American
children. With everything going on, it is easy to overlook what is
happening at the Department of Education.
Today, I would like to highlight the concerns of parents who have
children living with disabilities. They are scared, concerned, and
confused.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, is the
Federal law that ensures children with disabilities receive a free and
appropriate public education tailored to their unique learning needs.
IDEA provides services to children from birth to age 21. Since its
enactment in 1975, IDEA focused on providing children with disabilities
the same educational opportunities as all other students. It allows the
7.5 million children living with disabilities who rely on services to
receive early intervention and remain in the least restrictive
environments alongside their nondisabled peers.
It provides grants and helps parents with their rights and to know
what is legally required of schools to develop individualized
educational plans, detailing specific goals, services, and support for
students.
IDEA requires that teachers be highly qualified with ongoing
training, ensuring they meet the unique needs of students with
disabilities. These services are there to provide students with
postsecondary education, employment, and independent living.
IDEA addresses past failures to educate students with disabilities. I
am old enough to remember a time when students with special needs were
educated in the basement of schools or outright denied entry. Before
IDEA, millions of children with disabilities were denied an education
and often refused admission to schools or even programs.
Today, children with disabilities are able to attend any public
school and receive services at no cost to their parents. They have
legal and civil rights protections for their children under this
landmark law.
On March 20, 2025, the President signed an executive order directing
the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to facilitate the
dismantling of the Department of Education, which raises significant
questions about the future of IDEA and the impact on the education of
these 7.5 million children.
The students who would be hurt the most by weakening the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act are the children who are the most
vulnerable. In nearly every State, public schools are primarily funded
by State and local governments with local property taxes playing a
crucial role.
Without IDEA and Federal resources, these students could end up in
underfunded schools that lack resources, expertise, or accountability
to provide the special education services and supports they require.
IDEA is Federal law, which means that even without funding from the
Department of Education, State and local districts will have to figure
out how they will make up this deficit. They will still have to provide
services and likely have to cut other programs.
This could mean a student with dyslexia would no longer receive daily
reading interventions. A student who was deaf or hard of hearing would
not have a sign language interpreter. A student who just needed a
little bit of speech therapy in order to be a part of the class would
not have that, making it nearly impossible to follow daily lessons or
participate in discussions.
Weakening IDEA would not only cut funding or reduce services, but it
would threaten the future of these students who with just the right
amount of support and accommodations could thrive.
The stakes are too high. We must protect the Department of Education,
and we must protect IDEA. This administration has yet to lay out any
detailed plan for the future of IDEA.
I have serious concerns about moving services for students with
disabilities to HHS because then they are only being viewed through a
medical lens. They would only be diagnosed and would not be seen as
students first and given the resources they needed to survive.
Today, I would like to elevate the stories of my colleagues who have
children and families living in their district who rely so heavily on
the services that the Federal Government provides.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms.
Adams), a member of the Committee on Education and Workforce.
Ms. ADAMS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut
(Mrs. Hayes) for yielding time. I thank her for her unwavering support
of children and for having been the National Teacher of the Year. I
thank her so much.
Mr. Speaker, I rise because dismantling the Department of Education
is not just bad policy. It is dangerous for North Carolina's children.
In my State, more than 60 percent of students rely on Pell grants and
Federal aid to afford college. Nearly 1.5 million K-12 students depend
on title I IDEA school nutrition and other Federal supports.
In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, over 70 percent of students benefit
directly from programs administered through the Department. When the
Department is gutted, when staff are fired, grants are frozen, and
financial aid systems break, it is our most vulnerable young people who
feel it first. These are low-income students, first-generation
students, students with disabilities, and families who cannot afford
disruptions.
This isn't efficiency. It is an educational disarmament. I am proud
to defend the Department of Education because protecting the Department
means protecting opportunity.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Adams for her
remarks. As she noted, I was a classroom teacher for over 15 years. I
know exactly how important these resources and supports are. I had
students who had severe learning disabilities but who were able to
thrive with the appropriate accommodations and the resources and
support in the classroom.
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to note that in my State of
Connecticut, in 2025, we received approximately $160 million from the
Federal Government in order to facilitate services for students with
exceptionalities. A State like Connecticut would have to fill that gap
in order to make sure these students continue to receive services. What
is happening with the Department of Education is of grave concern to
me.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bynum).
Ms. BYNUM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut
(Mrs. Hayes) for bringing us together to stand up for children with
disabilities.
Mr. Speaker, if I were to not pay something I owed for 50 years, the
consequences would be tremendous. That is exactly what the Federal
Government has done with the IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act.
{time} 1850
In 1976, just a year after I was born, Congress promised to pay for
40 percent of the cost of public education for children with
disabilities. Yet, here we are in 2026. I am 50, almost 51, but the
Federal Government is paying less than 12 percent. In my home State of
Oregon, that means a $315 million gap between the funding that our
students are getting and the amount that these schools are owed.
On top of that, it has been credibly reported that the Trump
administration has started dismantling the Department of Education,
including the staff who oversee these IDEA programs. Now the program is
both underfunded and there is no one there to send the money out.
That is why earlier this Congress, I introduced the IDEA Full Funding
Act. I urge my colleagues to join me in finally giving our students
with disabilities exactly what they are owed.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Oregon for her
support.
To the gentlewoman's point, the IDEA has never been fully funded as
the Federal Government promised. In the State of Oregon, they received
$162 million in 2025, which is just a fraction of what it costs to
educate students with special needs.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Mannion).
Mr. MANNION. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share what is at stake for
students with disabilities as this administration continues its attacks
on the Department of Education.
Last year, one of our Nation's most fundamental laws, the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA,
[[Page H700]]
reached its 50th anniversary. IDEA opened the doors to opportunities
and protected the rights of millions of students with disabilities and
their families. It guaranteed a free, appropriate public education
where students with disabilities could learn in the least restrictive
environment and with the proper support.
Before this landmark piece of legislation, generations of students
with disabilities were routinely denied equal access to education. As a
teacher for almost 30 years and the founding chairman of the New York
State Senate Disabilities Committee, I have seen firsthand how IDEA has
transformed lives and what it means to families.
Yet, for all of the progress that we have made, much work still
remains, and IDEA is still more at risk today than it has ever been.
This administration has recklessly conducted mass layoffs across the
Department of Education, with no regard for the impacts on programs,
school districts, students, and families whom they serve.
Sadly, these firings have reached the Office of Special Education
Programs, which administers IDEA, as well as the Office for Civil
Rights, which investigates cases of disability discrimination. Without
these agencies and their dedicated employees, parents would have little
recourse when schools fail to protect their students and provide
appropriate accommodations.
From day one, it was obvious that this administration wanted to
transfer IDEA oversight out of the Department of Education entirely by
moving it to HHS, an agency with no expertise or legal authority over
special education.
Countless disability advocates have sounded the alarm on this
proposal. We cannot let these attacks continue, and we must also
continue to call out the vile rhetoric and misinformation about
disabilities in this country and around the world that this
administration has spread.
Parents of students with disabilities fight hard every single day for
their children, and there is no reason that they should have to fight
harder. I came to Congress to be a voice for those families and to
ensure that our country lives up to its promises and our values.
That is why my very first bill was the Protecting Students With
Disabilities Act, which would protect IDEA programs from the illegal
dismantling of the Department of Education. This should be a bipartisan
cause, as it has long been, and we should be talking more about fully
funding IDEA and strengthening it. Instead, we are left defending it
from political attacks.
I thank my colleague, Representative Hayes, for organizing this
discussion. I also thank my fellow members of the Education and
Workforce Committee for their commitment to maintaining IDEA. As a
fellow educator, I am proud to stand with Representative Hayes in this
fight.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, as our colleague on the committee from
Oregon makes her way to the podium, I will just read an excerpt from an
email that I got from a parent in my district:
As a special needs mom, the current news of the cuts
happening in the special education department are frightening
to me. I am not well-versed in politics or government, and I
don't know how or if this will affect us in Connecticut, but
I am my child's only advocate, and I can tell you that our
special education system is strained.
Please put yourself in the shoes of a special needs parent
who relies on the staff to tell them what happened at school
because their child cannot. I ask that you place yourself in
the shoes of a parent who cannot afford out-of-pocket
services and relies on the public school system to provide
speech, occupational, and behavioral services.
Please advocate for my child. I don't even know how to. I
need you to do this for them.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici).
Ms. BONAMICI. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Hayes for leading
this important conversation and bringing her expertise as National
Teacher of the Year to the Congress and to the Education Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I have been an education advocate for decades, and I
speak with students, parents, and educators in Congress and at home in
Oregon, and I can't count the number of times where parents have said
to me: Please, please fully fund IDEA.
According to the Department of Education, Secretary McMahon is now
exploring additional partnerships to move the administration of special
education programs under IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, to other Federal agencies. The most likely choice for
this unconstitutional and illegal transfer? It is to the Department of
Health and Human Services.
Mr. Speaker, this means that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., would
be in charge of administering IDEA. This is the man who disregarded
established science to advance policies based on conspiracy theories,
including claiming that Tylenol and vaccines cause autism and that
autism destroys families.
This agency should not be administering funding or providing guidance
to schools on educating students with disabilities, especially with its
current Secretary.
IDEA is an education program, not a medical program. It is designed
to provide students with disabilities access to a free and appropriate
public education, often through individualized education programs, or
IEPs.
Those with the expertise and data to best administer the program are
already at the Department of Education, or at least they were until
Secretary McMahon fired them.
A special education teacher in Beaverton, Oregon, recently wrote to
my office. She is extremely concerned, as are so many, about the Trump
administration's plans for special education, and this is what she
said: ``When I tell you that schools are in dire straits already, I
mean it--and yet I know it can get worse.
I am terrified for my students. The mass layoffs and restructuring
within the Department of Education's Office of Special Education have
left only a fraction of the staff to manage billions in IDEA funds and
ensure States follow the law.''
She continued: ``Without Federal oversight, States will have less
accountability, fewer resources, and more leeway to deny or reduce
services. Families will be left without recourse, and the promise of a
free and appropriate public education will be broken.''
These are challenging enough times for students, families, and
schools. In Portland, the public school district recently redirected an
additional $25 million from their general fund to fill the gap to help
provide students with disabilities the resources that they need that
State and Federal funding aren't covering, and it is still not enough.
The Trump administration's proposals to disrupt the administration on
such an important program risks further harming the people we
represent. A mother in Portland wrote to me and said that she is a
full-time caregiver, has two sons with disabilities, and that she has
only been able to work 2 of the last 8 years because of the lack of
reliable care.
Unfortunately, she was just laid off again from her most recent job.
She told me: ``We are exhausted and doing everything we can, but the
system leaves too much on families.''
She begged us to protect access to services for students with
disabilities and to continue advocating for these children and their
caregivers. In her words: ``We need policies that recognize the reality
we're living, not ones that make it harder.''
These are the families, teachers, and the people who will be affected
by decisions we make about IDEA. What we should be doing is fully
funding IDEA, not disrupting the support that already exists by forcing
schools and families to work with multiple Federal agencies instead of
one.
{time} 1900
HHS is not equipped to manage this critical program. I will keep
fighting. I will keep fighting the Trump administration's efforts to
abandon and dismantle the Department of Education and its core
responsibility, especially its core responsibility to students with
disabilities.
I thank Representative Hayes for her leadership.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio,
Representative Brown.
Ms. BROWN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Congresswoman Hayes, for
hosting this Special Order Hour and for her leadership on this critical
issue.
Mr. Speaker, 50 years ago Congress passed the Individuals With
Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, because America rejected exclusion
and finally recognized a simple truth: Every child,
[[Page H701]]
regardless of ability, deserves to learn, grow, and succeed.
Yet, today, that promise is under attack. Disabled students are more
vulnerable than ever, facing threats to their funding, their services,
and the Federal protections that make equal education possible.
At the same time, this administration is laying off the very civil
servants whose job it is to protect those children and enforce the law.
When you cut special education funding, cut the Department of
Education, and cut the staff, no one can speak out for the children who
need these programs the most--children like my nephew RJ, who was born
premature and has dealt with developmental delays all his life. His
condition requires special care and attention. He didn't choose to be
disabled or to have additional needs, but he is made in God's image,
and he deserves every opportunity to reach his full potential.
Because of programs established by IDEA, children like RJ can access
the same educational assistance and support that other students enjoy.
I think that is a good thing. I think that is what should make America
America, but this White House disagrees.
The Trump administration believes that the rights and opportunities
available to students like RJ can and should be limited. They have spun
abandoning programs as efficiency and told us that they are cutting
waste and saving you money.
What it really is and what it really costs is paid for by underserved
students and their families, because without the protections and
funding provided by IDEA, more students are left behind. Without
federally supported services that help with early detection, children
are less able to navigate a world that wasn't built for them.
IDEA doesn't provide special treatment. It provides children with
fair and inclusive treatment, and it doesn't waste Federal resources.
It breaks through the barriers that children with disabilities face and
levels the playing field.
Today, that lifeline for children with disabilities is under threat.
In my own State, nearly one in five students have disabilities. That is
more than a quarter million children in Ohio who rely on IDEA programs
to get the education they need and deserve.
I have one question today: How exactly does gutting special education
programs and staffing make America great? It doesn't. We should be
strengthening IDEA, not weakening it. We should be protecting civil
rights, not gutting them. We should be recommitting our promise to
every child, not pulling out the rug.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, a true champion in the education
space, for the leadership she has demonstrated on this critical and,
yes, personal issue to me.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Brown. I think she
knows I will always fight for RJ and all the kids like him.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Arizona and the newest
member of our committee, Representative Grijalva.
Mrs. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Hayes for her
leadership and advocacy.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in defense of one of the most
important civil rights laws Congress has ever passed, the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act and to oppose the dangerous and
unlawful efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.
IDEA is not a suggestion. It is not discretionary. It is the law of
the land, and for more than four decades, it has represented a
bipartisan commitment that children with disabilities have the right to
a free, appropriate public education, one that meets their individual
needs and recognizes their full potential.
Before IDEA, millions of children with disabilities were excluded
from classrooms, denied services, or told they did not belong in public
school at all. IDEA changed that. It affirmed that a disability does
not diminish a child's worth and that access to education is a civil
right, not a privilege reserved for a few.
Today, more than 7 million students across the country rely on IDEA
for individualized education plans, services, and due process
protections. These are real students whose ability to learn,
communicate, and thrive depends on fulfilling the promises made in
Federal law.
Those promises are enforced, overseen, and protected by the
Department of Education.
The Department plays an essential role in ensuring that IDEA is
implemented fairly and consistently across all States. It provides
guidance, oversight, enforcement, and accountability. Without it, IDEA
becomes words on paper with no meaningful guarantee.
Let us be clear. People cannot claim to support students with
disabilities while dismantling the very agency responsible for
protecting their rights. Efforts to hollow out or get rid of the
Department of Education without congressional authorization are not
only reckless, they are illegal. Congress created IDEA. Congress
assigned its enforcement. Attempting to undermine that structure
violates the law and the Constitution's separation of powers.
Without Federal oversight, enforcement of IDEA will vary widely from
State to State. A child's access to services will depend on their ZIP
Code. Families will face confusion, delays, and costly legal battles
just to secure what the law already guarantees their children. States
and school districts will be left without clear guidance or support,
increasing litigation, and diverting resources away from classrooms.
Families, especially those without financial or legal resources, will
pay the highest price.
The measure of our commitment to public education is how the students
who need us the most are treated, and today, those students are
watching.
I urge my colleagues to reject the efforts to weaken IDEA or
dismantle the Department of Education. Congress has a legal obligation,
a moral responsibility, and a constitutional duty to protect students
with disabilities and ensure they receive the education they deserve.
I will continue to stand with students, families, educators, and
advocates, and I call on this body to do the same.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California,
another member of the Committee on Education and Workforce,
Representative Takano.
Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, it is always an honor and a pleasure to work
with the gentlewoman from Connecticut, a distinguished National Teacher
of the Year and an amazing educator who, like myself, went from the
classroom to the Halls of Congress to advocate for our students
nationally.
The promise of a free and quality education is a vital part of the
American Dream. The embodiment of that promise came in 1975 when
Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to
ensure that children with disabilities could receive a free, fair, and
equal education.
This landmark legislation changed the lives of millions of Americans.
The disabled children's right to an education would not only be
recognized, but it would be funded and enforced nationwide.
Today, 7.5 million students rely on IDEA funding, and that is nearly
one in seven students whose specialized education is funded in part by
the Department of Education.
Every school district in the country has families that have benefited
from the IDEA, and its 50 years of enactment have improved public
education for all students. That is why the Trump administration's
actions to gut staffing at the Department of Education and move the
Office of Special Education programs to the Department of Health and
Human Services is so devastating. HHS does not have the structure, nor
the staff, to administer the $15 billion a year that this office is
responsible for.
The administration also gutted the Office of Civil Rights, which is
responsible for investigating civil rights abuses in schools. The OCR
was responsible for ensuring that students with disabilities got the
quality education they are entitled to and that cases of neglect and
abuse were duly prosecuted.
{time} 1910
With the Department of Education fragmented, teachers and
administrators won't be able to access the resources they need; parents
will be unable to get the proper support; and the
[[Page H702]]
students will be the ones who pay the price.
What is clear is that the Department of Education is the only
Department equipped to be charged with the education of all students,
including students with disabilities, not HHS, not the Department of
Labor, not the Department of Justice.
Creating more hoops for schools to jump through and shattering known
systems and protocol will, at the end of the day, hurt the students
this administration claims they are protecting.
Republicans have not allowed IDEA to be fully funded. Republicans are
looking to defund public schools, leaving parents with fewer choices
and options in educating their children. Republicans' obsession with
dismantling the Department of Education appears to be the only
education policy they really have.
Our students need more. Our teachers deserve more. Our schools
require more to fulfill the American promise of a free and quality
education for every American child.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say as a teacher, when
students with disabilities enter public schools, they can't be turned
away. You have to figure out what their needs are. You have to meet
with parents and the team to come up with a plan and teach those
students.
Unlike charter schools, for-profit schools, or even some private
schools, which can decide that a student doesn't belong in their
environment, at public schools, all kids belong there. We just have to
figure out how to teach them.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from
Connecticut for yielding. It is so good to be here with her.
I want to focus a little bit on the importance of bringing this to
the floor and perhaps even entering into a sort of dialogue with Mrs.
Hayes about it.
I am thinking that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
came around 50 years ago. Long before that time, people recognized that
education was a game changer for anyone.
Frederick Douglass said that knowledge is the ``pathway from slavery
to freedom,'' and, ``Once you learn to read, you will be forever
free.''
We found that Brown v. Board of Education really challenged the Equal
Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment and made sure that little
Black children would be able to get an education. Even before the
Department of Education was established, even before that, the IDEA was
written into law.
I bring all of that background up to say that the Department of
Education was critical because when you think of all the various laws
that need to be administered to make sure that there is equal
protection, the IDEA just being one of those laws, it is very
disturbing to see that the Department of Education has been stripped
down to its bare bones.
I would like the member of the Committee on Education and Workforce
to help me walk through it.
Am I right about this, that the administration has tried to illegally
move the IDEA office and funding from the Department of Education to
the Department of Health and Human Services?
I yield to the gentlewoman for a colloquy.
Mrs. HAYES. It has been floated, but we haven't seen any concrete
plans, which is part of the problem.
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. In the middle of the shutdown, was it true
that the Trump administration tried to fire nearly everyone in the
Department of Education's Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitation Services?
Mrs. HAYES. Yes. Many employees were RIF'd at the Department of
Education. I think even more concerning is the Office of Civil Rights
in the Department of Education, the number of staff who were fired.
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin. The Office of Civil Rights was put in there
through the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This office is responsible for
investigating thousands of allegations of discrimination each year,
which includes enforcing Federal laws, ensuring equal educational
access, and preventing discrimination.
Gentlewoman from Connecticut, am I wrong about this? I think it is
very important because what we have seen is that so-called disabled
people or differently abled people have made such tremendous
contributions to our culture and to our society. I am thinking of very
famous people like Thomas Edison, Franklin Roosevelt, and Fannie Lou
Hamer, people who have had polio, who have been in wheelchairs, and
physicists who have contributed.
It is important to leave nobody behind because the education of
everybody is important to our national security interests and our
economic interests.
I am so happy that Mrs. Hayes has raised this in this Special Order
hour, and I thank her for allowing me to participate.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks.
I will say that I am uniquely positioned to speak about some of the
things that were brought up about what happened to children before IDEA
was passed.
Before becoming a teacher, and, actually, while I was a teacher, I
worked at the Southbury Training School in Connecticut, which is a
facility, an institution, that was established in the 1930s for
children with developmental and mental disabilities.
Many of those people, who are now adults, became institutionalized
because they were placed in this facility. With their disabilities, had
a law like this been in place, they could have been able to thrive and
live in their community, but we put them behind walls in institutions.
We can never go back to a time when that happens again.
I thank Ms. Moore for joining us tonight.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New Jersey (Mrs.
McIver).
Mrs. McIVER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut
(Mrs. Hayes) so much for leading this Special Order hour.
Mr. Speaker, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the
Department of Education are vital to all communities, including the one
I represent.
Nearly one in five students in New Jersey is served under IDEA.
Without this support, almost a quarter-million students would be denied
an adequate education.
My district, New Jersey's 10th Congressional District, receives $98
million in title I and special education grants. How will our schools
support these students without these funds?
As a former education administrator, I know firsthand the impact IDEA
funding makes on students who need it the most. Without Federal
funding, States and local communities would have to cover the costs,
but your ZIP Code should not determine if you deserve to have your
children's educational needs met.
As a public school mom, this is deeply personal for me. People in my
community and communities across the Nation are scared.
My office recently received a letter from Alexander, a special
education and social studies teacher in my district. Alexander is
worried about what funding cuts would mean for his students, who are
among the most vulnerable and underserved.
Too often, the most vulnerable among us are forced to suffer from bad
policy decisions. In this country, the richest one, we are supposed to
find solutions for those who need our support, not leave them behind.
This administration came to office saying it was going to put
Americans first. These attacks on public education show they are
putting children last.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr.
Kennedy).
Mr. KENNEDY of New York. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me thank
Representative Hayes for her leadership in hosting this Special Order
hour.
This past November, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, an incredible milestone
that serves as a reminder of the promise we make to our Nation's
children that every student, no matter who they are or how they learn,
deserves equal access to a quality education.
{time} 1920
Yet, this anniversary comes at a time when the Trump administration
[[Page H703]]
continues its systematic efforts to eliminate the Department of
Education, gut the Office of Special Education Programs, and undermine
IDEA, a landmark law that fundamentally changed how we educate children
with disabilities.
Since 1975, IDEA has provided immeasurable support to children with
disabilities, particularly for those in their earliest and most
formative years. IDEA part C, a Federal program closely intertwined the
Medicaid, provides early intervention from birth to age 3, oftentimes
the difference between a child meeting developmental milestones or
falling behind.
These Federal dollars change millions of lives across the country
every single year. However, Trump and congressional Republicans have
told American families that these investments don't matter, that their
child's future does not count, and that Federal dollars are better
spent elsewhere.
I am here to remind the American people that the President's
shameless assault on early intervention and Medicaid paints a grim
picture for the future of special education and for the future of
millions of children.
As an occupational therapist myself, I have worked with children with
developmental disabilities in their earliest years, and I have seen
what happens when we make good on our promise to invest in special
education and early intervention. Early intervention care alters the
course of a child's life for the better, dramatically improves health
and educational outcomes, and gives working families the support they
desperately need.
Republicans in this body need to remember the sacred promise made to
children with disabilities 50 years ago and stand by it rather than
turn a blind eye. Democrats will not sit idly by as this administration
jeopardizes our children's futures and undermines the fundamental right
to an education.
These aren't budget cuts. These are broken promises to children with
disabilities. We cannot build a stronger nation by cutting off critical
support for those who need it most. We must fully fund and support the
essential mission and fulfill the commitment of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan
(Ms. Tlaib), who is a champion for children.
Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, I thank my sister in service, Congresswoman
Hayes, who has been leading this fight to protect our children,
especially making sure that we have access to public education and
quality education for all of our children.
Alongside millions of children, including children with disabilities
and their families, we are demanding that Congress fulfill its promise.
Nearly 50 years ago, Congress passed the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, IDEA, with a commitment that every child,
including students with disabilities, meet their full potential in
every classroom and to ensure also that every family has the services
they need for their children to succeed.
We didn't say educate children with disabilities if it is convenient.
We didn't say protect their rights unless the budgets are too tight or
we don't have enough money. We made a promise. We made a promise to
fund 40 percent of the cost of IDEA. That promise was never kept. The
Federal share is now less than 12 percent.
According to the Autism Alliance of Michigan, Michigan ranks among
the lowest in the Nation for special education outcomes, due to massive
underfunding by our Federal Government. Students with disabilities in
Michigan are twice as likely to drop out of school as their peers. Only
60 percent graduate high school in 4 years, compared to 85 percent
among their other peers.
Right now, we are seeing special education under direct and
deliberate attack. We have seen repeated efforts to slash education
funding, weaken civil rights enforcement and chip away at the
protections IDEA guarantees to our students with disabilities.
Every dollar we fail to invest in IDEA is a cost shifted onto our
schools, our local communities, our families, and our children, who are
already feeling financial strain.
Our families are counting on us. Congress cannot continue to fall
short on our students and families regarding funding when so much is at
stake. We must fulfill our promise and fund IDEA.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Simon), to speak on this very important issue.
Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Hayes for bringing us
here tonight.
Mr. Speaker, America, this country, has long promised that every
child has a right to learn. That promise exists because parents, not
just this Chamber, parents, refused to give up on their children's
future.
Mr. Speaker, one of those parents was my mother, Vicki Simon. I was
born with congenital blindness, and my mother in the early seventies
was on the phone consistently, day after day to ensure that I entered a
school that would be there for me, that would ensure that I had
assistance and support, and that I would read large print with power.
I am thankful for teachers and educators, like the gentlewoman, who
brought children like me in front of the board. I was so happy to
cosponsor the See the Board Act. It should be in this Chamber, and we
should be voting to ensure that while the Republicans take away
healthcare from families and disabled children, those deaf and those
blind, that they get education and screening at their schools of
choice.
We are also here because advocates refused to be silent because
Congress recognized that an equal education is the foundation of any
democratic society.
Before these protections, young people with disabilities around the
country were not only silenced, they were institutionalized. Families
were told to stay quiet while bright and brilliant minds were
dismissed, and today that door is closing again, eerily quickly because
of the Trump administration's reckless and cruel agenda.
Mr. Speaker, if you would ask any parent of a disabled child in this
country regardless how they vote, red or blue, if you ask them if they
knew that the Department of Education--yes, we want to trim it down--
but the very department, the Office of Civil Rights, was all but being
severed, and you let them know what the Office of Civil Rights did: The
Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education ensures that
every rape on a college campus in this country is investigated. If the
city decides not to investigate, then the Office of Civil Rights comes
in.
The Office of Civil Rights investigates for the mother and the child
who uses the wheelchair when the school says they don't need a ramp.
The Office of Civil Rights literally provides constant oversight over
every school district in this country so that a child in Alabama has
the same rights to an education as their disabled peer in California.
Let's make it clear: We are not talking about any progressive agenda
here. We are talking about letting it be known in this country that the
Trump administration is literally taking away investigators who will
oversee the educational progress of disabled children.
Tens of thousands of families are waiting for justice and their cases
to be investigated. These are not statistics; these are real families
that we serve.
Did Congress ever intend this?
Did the administration ever intend to block away rights and
responsibilities of folks who are supposed to oversee the rightful
education of disabled children?
The American people will not accept this.
{time} 1930
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California and
again thank her for cosponsoring that piece of legislation with me. I
understand that if a child can't see the board, they can't learn. Her
enthusiasm when I brought it to her is exactly why we need people from
diverse perspectives in this Chamber.
I now yield to the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda). I thank her
so much for the work that she does on behalf of children in her home
State.
Ms. TOKUDA. Mr. Speaker, only 50 years ago, we made a promise as a
nation. When Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, we affirmed a simple and profound truth: Every child, no
matter their disability or ability, has the right to a
[[Page H704]]
free and appropriate public education; not as charity, not as an
afterthought, but as a civil right.
Let's be honest. That promise has never been self-executing. Making
IDEA real has required vigorous Federal oversight, strong civil rights
enforcement, litigation when necessary, strong parents who demand only
the best for their child, and a willingness to demand more--not less--
resources and accountability.
That is why the Trump administration's dismantling of the Department
of Education, the decimation of special education enforcement, and the
hollowing out of the Office for Civil Rights is so dangerous. This is
not reform. This is retreat. It will set public education back more
than 50 years.
In Hawaii, we know what happens when FAPE is treated as optional. The
Felix Consent Decree raised the alarm more than 30 years ago that we
were failing our children. We are the tenth largest school district in
the Nation. One in ten of our students have an IEP. Many live on our
neighbor islands in rural and remote communities, where even access to
services or reliable internet is a challenge. Federal enforcement is
not abstract to us. It is the difference between support and neglect.
The reality is, IDEA has also been an unfunded mandate. You have
heard it here today from my colleagues. The Federal Government once
promised to cover 40 percent of the cost. It has never met that
promise, never rising above 10 or 12 percent at best. Now, instead of
finally doing what we owe our children, our families, our communities,
this administration wants to walk away altogether.
I am a proud product of our public schools. I am a proud parent of
public school students, and I believe deeply that an injury to one is
an injury and insult to all.
The dismantling, defunding, destaffing, restructuring of the
Department of Education is death by a thousand cuts. If we allow this
to continue, if we walk back all the gains we have made as a result of
IDEA, it will leave all our children behind.
We must not, cannot let this happen, and I assure you, all of us here
today on this floor will stand in the way of the destruction of the
Department of Education and the demise of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentlewoman from New
Mexico (Ms. Stansbury), a fearless advocate for children and her
constituents.
Ms. STANSBURY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today first in thanks to our
fearless leader, Representative Hayes, today, but Mr. Speaker, I rise
today to sound the alarm on what is happening at the U.S. Department of
Education or at least what is left of it.
For millions of students with disabilities, the IDEA, or Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, is a landmark civil rights law that
guarantees a free and inclusive public education for all students.
However, under the Trump administration, IDEA is under attack, with
the administration announcing at the height of the government shutdown
in October that it would fire nearly all of the staff responsible for
ensuring that students with disabilities have access to resources and
support services.
Can you imagine? It is not just reckless, it is not just illegal. It
is heartless, and it is disgusting.
Piled onto continuing cuts and threats to other programs of
vulnerable families, the President and the GOP have continued to cut
healthcare, education, food assistance, housing, and childcare to
millions of American families, attacking the very families who need it
most while giving billionaires tax breaks on the backs of hardworking
Americans. It is shameful.
Mr. Speaker, I want to address the administration's attacks on
education and what these actions mean for all students, but especially
students with disabilities, their educators, and their families. The
Department of Education exists to ensure that every student has access
to opportunity, to protect their civil rights, to ensure that every
student has a fair shot at success.
However, since day one, this administration has systematically
dismantled the department, with budget cuts, cutting programs, delaying
grants, and firing staff. Over the course of the last year, my office
has heard from hundreds of parents, teachers, and students who are
scared about what is happening and wondering what will come next: from
teachers and counselors who are stretched thin and uncertain about
whether or not resources will be there next year, from schools who
don't know if their funding will be cut, and from young people, the
very children that these programs serve, who are afraid because this
administration is terrorizing the children of this country by attacking
education and schools and their families, attacking the most vulnerable
families.
I have to say this, Mr. Speaker, there is no demand for this. There
is no one out there in the American public who is demanding that we cut
programs for students and young people with disabilities because it is
cruel, wrong, and illegal. It must stop.
That is why Democrats are standing here tonight: to stand up for our
students, to stand up for our young people, to fight back against these
attacks, and to take a stand against the dismantling of these vital
programs.
Let me just say this: In New Mexico, we understand that our young
people are our future. That is why we are the first State in the Nation
to pass universal free childcare and education for every single student
in our State.
I, for one, as a public school kid, was deeply proud to carry the
Federal enabling legislation. It is why I fought for funding to build
new schools at To'hajiilee, Sandia Pueblo, and Mescalero Apache. It is
why I am carrying legislation to increase teacher pay, to protect BIE
in Tribal schools, to create a postsecondary pathway of success for
students with disabilities, veterans, and first-generation students. It
is why I have supported New Mexico also becoming the first State in the
country to guarantee free trade school and free college for every
single New Mexican. That is how you should be transforming education,
that is how you deliver for communities, and that is how you care for
the children that we have been blessed to take care of in our role and
prepare the next generation of leaders.
I will say this to Mr. Trump: While he and his colleagues may not
believe in the power of public education or civil rights or the need to
protect children--because their actions speak as loud as their words--
we do. We believe in investing in education from early childhood
education to higher education, and everything in between, and we will
continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight back at every turn
and honor our commitment to the students of this country. I, for one,
and all of us will not stand by and allow this to happen.
Mrs. HAYES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New Mexico and
all my colleagues who showed up tonight. I really thought I would be
standing here for an hour reading emails from my constituents and
telling the stories of the hundreds of students with disabilities that
I have taught in my classroom, telling the stories of how we met them
where they were and made accommodations so that they could thrive and
really learn.
I can't express to you what it feels like as a teacher when you have
a student who is struggling or has a disability and you see the moment
where they get it, the moment where the lesson breaks through and they
are receiving the information in the same way as the other students in
the classroom.
I want to make sure that those students can continue to be educated
alongside their nondisabled peers and not put in a basement or behind a
wall at an institution. I also want to make sure that even if a child
doesn't have a strong parent advocate or a strong family at home that
they, too, will have people in their public schools fighting for them,
that they, too, will still have the services that they need and
deserve.
The Secretary of Education has often said that her final mission is
to close the Department. I would like to put her and everyone else on
notice that I, too, am on a mission, on a mission to make sure that not
only the kids that were in my classroom and in my State of Connecticut,
but kids all across the country know that they have the right to a
high-quality public education, know that it is our responsibility to
[[Page H705]]
make sure that they thrive and are prepared for life and being self-
sufficient.
Again, I thank all of my colleagues for showing up tonight, and I
will continue to fight not only for these children and these families,
but for all of the educators who stand in front of them and pour their
heart out so that they can meet their needs.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________