Education is of Great Importance to Congressional Black Caucus, Congress, and Constituents

Floor Speech

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Mrs. McBATH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms. McClellan) for yielding, and I thank the gentlewoman for anchoring this Special Order hour tonight on behalf of the CBC.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak out against the Republican assault on every American's right to a quality public education in this country.

For decades, families have been promised the right to send their kids to good public schools, regardless of how much money they make or their child's disability. The actions of President Trump are a direct threat to making good on that promise, specifically for children with disabilities.

In February, parents in Georgia received this exact email, telling them that year-round counseling and support services meant to assist them and their disabled child in transitioning from high school to adulthood have been discontinued--overnight, in the middle of the school year.

As every parent knows, raising a child takes an incredible amount of planning and care, especially if your child has unique or special needs, and even more so if that child is one of color.

We would do anything for our children. The fact that a group of faceless government officials can go behind a parent's back and cancel programs that our kids rely on with no explanation is absolutely unacceptable.

It is more than wrong to pull the rug out from under families in the middle of the school year during one of the most formative times in a child's life, after recruiting and convincing them to participate in this program in the first place.

The Charting My Path for Future Success program was operating in 13 different districts across 11 States. It had actively recruited over 1,000 students with disabilities and their families, as well as 60 teachers, to take part in this program, some of whom uprooted their entire lives to be involved.

Seeing your child grow up to thrive, that is the goal of every parent. I have not met one parent in this country who didn't break their backs to make sure that they were offering their child every opportunity to be successful, and that takes on another level of significance when your child has autism, dyslexia, or another condition that makes learning even more difficult for them. It takes a different level of commitment, a different level of support, to ensure that they can reach the potential that all of us want to see fulfilled in our kids.

That is exactly what this program was doing before President Trump and Elon Musk actively decided that it was not worth continuing.

All too often it is, unfortunately, sink or swim for disabled students after high school in America. Students and their families are left behind despite being promised that their school would get their child on a path to success and independence.

Programs like these are the difference between students being successful in adulthood or regressing. They can be the difference between a lifetime on disability versus a good job that someone can actually raise a family on.

The President and Secretary McMahon claim that students with disabilities will not be affected by their plans to gut the Department, but they already are. Time and time again, they say one thing, and they do another. It is the American people and our students who are paying the price in this country every single day.

Emails like this, life-changing services for families being discontinued at random, this is the Trump-Musk plan for our children, and this is only the beginning.

The time is now for all Members in this body to speak up, to speak out, and to fight back against these attacks on our families in each and every one of our districts. It doesn't make a difference what district any of our colleagues are representing. All of our children are being affected. Every single one of us should be willing to stand up and fight back for our communities and fight back for our students before it is too late.

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