{"id":138427,"date":"2019-03-26T18:53:48","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T00:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=138427"},"modified":"2019-03-26T18:53:48","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T00:53:48","slug":"betsy-devos-laments-difficult-decisions-cutting-18-from-special-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/26\/betsy-devos-laments-difficult-decisions-cutting-18-from-special-olympics.html","title":{"rendered":"Betsy DeVos laments “difficult decisions” cutting $18 from Special Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>You can almost feel<\/em> the anguish from the Secretary of Education, defending her department’s proposed elimination of federal funding to the Special Olympics.<\/p>\n

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Appearing before a House subcommittee Tuesday to review the department\u2019s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, DeVos said, \u201cWe had to make some difficult decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But, don’t worry, DeVos has no doubts that the wealthy people will make up the $18 million difference.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think Special Olympics is an awesome organization, one that is well supported by the philanthropic sector as well,\u201d DeVos said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The cut is about 4% of the organization’s annual income, which doesn’t sound like much unless you’ve ever worked for a non-profit organization. And the organization’s leadership have noted that being a recipient of federal money actually helps encourage additional private donations.<\/p>\n

The cuts are just part of $7 billion the agency is proposing to eliminate from federal support for education programs in the department (10% of the current budget) — though the proposal also calls for\u00a0$60 million more<\/em>\u00a0in taxpayer funding for charter schools (DeVos’ pet project), and funding for a big tax credits for people and companies that fund scholarships to private schools. Because public teacher training and reducing public classroom size and helping decaying public schools isn’t nearly as exciting as throwing money at charter and private schools.<\/p>\n

It has been pointed out that the annual federal funding to the Special Olympics only costs as much as five Trump visits to Mar-a-Lago<\/a>, or less than half the value of her personal yacht<\/a>, the SeaQuest<\/em> (one of ten her family owns), or, y’know, about 3\/4 of a mile of Vanity Wall on the border<\/a>. Clearly, difficult decisions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In fairness, Betsy DeVos purports to love the Special Olympics.<\/p>\n

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It was great to spend time with the @SpecialOlympics<\/a> athletes! Thanks for all you do, @TimShriver<\/a>. https:\/\/t.co\/tCrpx40xaN<\/a><\/p>\n

— Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) February 15, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n