This seems troubling. It’s not a situation like when the physician payment formula was in flux in 2015 & all Medicare physician claims were temporarily held (or paid at lower rates and then later reprocessed). Most payments should flow normally with only certain telemedicine/other claims held.

This is about more than staff losing their jobs.This is about an attack on people with disabilities at every stage of our lives. This is harm to children, families, and communities for years to come.

www.aapd.com/federal-redu...

Here’s a resource that gets into more details about the illegal layoffs and what they mean. www.aapd.com/explainer-wh...

But, the massive and illegal layoffs extend far beyond the Department of Education and into Health and Human Services agencies that focus on early intervention services, school and community based mental health services, and affordable housing.

Over the past few days, the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) has been decimated. Same for the Office of Special Education Programs, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, the Office for Civil Rights & more. www.aapd.com/department-o...

Instead, I am terrified for the future of inclusive education, accessible workforce preparation,healthcare and affordable housing. www.aapd.com/explainer-wh...

Today, I should be celebrating new connections between disabled young people and mentors. I should be excited to witness people, mentees and mentors, begin to recognize potential and envision futures they may not have thought could exist.

Today is a Disability Mentoring Day, a day that puts a focus on national effort on promoting career development for students and job-seekers with disabilities through career exploration and ongoing mentoring relationships.

There’s also an easy way to conact your member of Congress to tell them to end the shutdown. aapd.quorum.us/campaign/144...

The government shutdown shows no signs of ending soon. Social Security & Medicaid benefits will keep going out, but, people could be w/o other benefits, like SNAP & WIC very soon. AAPD created a resource that explains what’s at stake if the shutdown doesn’t end soon. www.aapd.com/explainer-wh...

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

If you work in the Office of Special Education for the Department of Education and have been RIF'ed or if you work in a school that has been notified about it, please message me. My Signal is emgarcia.85. I'll protect your identity.

Two opportunities to get involved in the city this week, from @colleengrablick.bsky.social's Civics Roundup:
• Tuesday, Oct. 7: @freedcproject.bsky.social's Ward 3 campaign orientation
• Wednesday, Oct. 8: "Angry" hour for pissed-off optimists benefiting @peacefordc.bsky.social

ICYMI, the federal government is still shut down.

Here's what that means for the people of D.C.

#FF @jasmineeharris.bsky.social @mariatown.bsky.social @crenny75.bsky.social @akwyz.com @neilmilliken.bsky.social @debraruh.bsky.social @judgewren.bsky.social @sabrinaep.bsky.social @xoulwing.bsky.social @icarszoey.bsky.social @yep4rights.bsky.social @disabilityrightsca.bsky.social @aapd.com

And will be in excellent hands with the brilliant @ashleyallison.bsky.social 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽https://edition.cnn.com/2025/10/02/media/the-root-go-media-ashley-allison

If you haven’t worked in the federal government during a past shutdown, it may be hard to know how drastically this breaks from past practice and the law.

I was furloughed from HHS in 2013, and our out-of-office messages were studiously neutral. To do otherwise would have violated the Hatch Act.

Ridiculously, Medicare Telehealth coverage keeps are getting tied to continuing resolutions. Bills could be passed separately. But political bureaucracy. This means Medicare Telehealth waivers are kaput as of today. My latest for @motherjones.com www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This will be an essential resource, and my hope is that it makes it easier for academics who are called to public scholarship as a way to fight the encroaching darkness.

Our nation’s public servants & the folks who rely on government in any way (which is most of us) should not be collateral damage in a political fight within a dysfunctional Congress. It’s bad governance. It’s bad management. It’s bad leadership, & we should demand better from our elected officials.

There are many, many reasons to be frustrated with government, and there are probably just as many opinions and arguments on how to make it run better.

Shutdowns cost our economy. The last shutdown in 2019, which lasted for a continuous 35 days, cost the United States an estimated $3 billion in lost GDP.

A 2019 Senate report found that the three government shutdowns in 2013, 2018, and 2019 wasted nearly $4 billion of taxpayer dollars. Imagine how much public good could be done with this money. www.hsgac.senate.gov/wp-content/u...

Shutdowns cost the government money, and they make our government run more inefficiently before they’ve even begun. When a shutdown looms, agencies have to take time away from the things they are actually supposed to be doing to create contingency plans. Employees have to spend time preparing.