This morning marked the second day of Appropriations Committee hearings regarding the Trump administrations recent budget cuts — and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) had absolutely no time for Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ bullshit. Durbin cut straight to the quick this morning and immediately questioned DeVos about the recent $18 million cut to the Special Olympics as well as the significant cuts that were made to other special needs programs all around the country. But according to Betsy, those cuts had a lot less to do with her and a whole lot more to do with Trump and his administration.
Durbin began his inquiry, “Madam Secretary, there have been some press reports about your testimony yesterday related to the Special Olympics. Did you personally approve the elimination of the $18 million from your budget to help the Special Olympics?”
DeVos quickly tried to dodge the question by replying, “Well, Senator, as you know, [the] budget process within the administration is a collaborative one and it’s been my responsibility to present the budget here on behalf of the administration, the president’s budget. As I said then, and I’ll say again, this — we had to make tough choices around the budget priorities and we elected to hold harmless Title I and IDEA funding and funding for English language learners, knowing that that’s really going to reach the greatest number of students.”
Durbin wasted no time interrupting her run around, asking Betsy once again if she was the one to personally approve the drastic budget cuts to special education, pointing out that “a yes or no will do.”
Betsy must’ve been feeling the heat in that kitchen this morning, because she finally, directly stated, “No, I didn’t personally get involved in that.”
DeVos’s admission that she had very little to do with the approval of the cuts and forcing special needs individuals to seek private alternatives begs the question — who did? It seems that Durbin wasn’t satisfied with her answer, stating “Whoever came up with that idea at OMB gets a Special Olympic medal for insensitivity.” Durbin went on to suggest that the administration bar student loans to for-profit schools to help save that money instead of punishing the special needs community.
It seems that DeVos wanted no part of this blame and was more than happy to lay it all at the feet of the Trump administration.
Featured image via Flicker/Gage SkidmoreÂ
