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April 24, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n Statement by Wisconsin Aging and Disability Programs Funded by Administration on Community Living<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Wisconsin aging and disability programs funded through the Administration for Community Living, and authorized through the Older Americans Act and Rehabilitation Act and Developmental Disabilities Bill of Right Act stand in opposition to the elimination of programs and funding cuts proposed by the federal Office of Management and Budget for federal fiscal year 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n On April 16, 2025, a document from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), entitled, \u201cDepartment of Health and Human Services 2026 Discretionary Budget Passback\u201d was leaked to the media. The document included the list of programs proposed for elimination or significant funding cuts in the President\u2019s 2026 Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 budget. These potential cuts to programs that millions of older adults, caregivers, and individuals with disabilities rely on would result in devastating consequences.<\/span><\/p>\n The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is recommending the total elimination of many disability and aging programs that serve every state and territory, including:<\/span><\/p>\n This proposal is not a final decision, but it is a clear communication about intent. This proposal would eliminate funding for advocates charged under federal law to help people with disabilities and older adults express and be guaranteed their rights. Eliminating independent advocate voices and capacity for enforcement of disability and aging rights has the potential to impact the health, safety and well-being of millions. This would take us back to days when older and disabled persons had no options other than expensive nursing homes, and to a time when a lack of oversight and advocacy led to mistreatment, excessive disability, and death.<\/span><\/p>\n The proposal also calls for significant reductions in federal staff responsible for the administration and oversight of aging and disability programs and services through the elimination of the Administration for Community Living (ACL), and restructuring these programs within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Splitting up these core Older Americans Act programs across different DHHS agencies makes essential partnerships and collaborations an impediment to effective advocacy and smooth systems management. Additionally, the proposal directs significant dollars to states to manage these programs as part of Independent Living programming.\u00a0 This move places undo hardship on Designated State Entities overseeing IL Services, and eliminates the very supports they would need at the federal level to successfully deliver on the intent of the eliminates programs. Congress would have to agree to these changes if they become part of the President’s budget proposal for next year. Public hearings to determine their impact are needed before these programs are considered for elimination.<\/span><\/p>\n What do these disability and aging programs do?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Together, these vital and informed agencies improve access to employment, health, food security, housing and transportation. They take steps to ensure laws and rules increase safety and independence, and minimize premature and expensive admissions to long-term care settings while also working toward best health outcomes through systems improvement. They also decrease healthcare costs and reduce burden on public safety resources, and on individuals and their families.<\/span><\/p>\n Advocacy agencies exist to protect people\u2019s access and rights to participate in their communities, and help communities to build programs that enable productive, meaningful lives. Collectively, these partner agencies advocate for improved public programs and laws that keep vulnerable Wisconsinites living healthy, safe lives in their communities, as well as create a system of autonomy and accountability. We are concerned that the actions in this proposal will weaken the strong partnerships and clear goals of our mutual organizations.<\/span><\/p>\n We encourage you to contact your state and federal legislators to ask them to stand up for the rights, health and safety of older and disabled persons in need of vital long-term care services and supports, asking them to say no to the dismantling and de-funding of these programs.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/WI-Disability-and-Aging-Statement-on-Proposed-Changes-to-Federally-funded-WI-programs.pdf” url_new_window=”on” button_text=”PDF Version” button_alignment=”center” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#FFFFFF” button_bg_color=”#79cc8c” background_layout=”dark” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" April 24, 2025 Statement by Wisconsin Aging and Disability Programs Funded by Administration on Community Living Wisconsin aging and disability programs funded through the Administration for Community Living, and authorized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-news","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15706,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15698\/revisions\/15706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wi-bpdd.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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