Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee have released a report highlighting President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office and his disastrous policies hurting older Americans and individuals with disabilities.
The 16-page report was shared by U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland with details about Republican attacks on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; the mass layoff of federal employees at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Department of Education (ED) and Social Security Administration (SSA); and proposals to further cut funding for programs that Americans rely on, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
“During President Trump’s first 100 days in office, he has enacted horrendous policies that will have negative consequences for Americans for decades to come. Today, I’m releasing this report with my colleagues highlighting the reprehensible harm that President Trump and his administration have caused for older Americans and people with disabilities. From gutting HHS and other federal agencies to rolling back policies that make it easier for Americans to access health care and afford prescription drugs, the Trump Administration has made it clear that they do not care about the well-being of our nation’s seniors or people with disabilities. I’ve heard from older Americans and individuals with disabilities in Virginia, including at a recent roundtable in Wytheville, about their concerns with what the Trump Administration is doing. I will keep pushing to protect important federal programs that support older Americans and people with disabilities, and fight against Republican proposals to slash Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security,” Kaine said.
According to Sanders, who has been vocal on X about Trump’s harmful policies, the president has made it clear in his first 100 days in office “that seniors and people with disabilities do not matter. Instead of protecting the programs and services working families rely on, Trump is getting ready to give more tax breaks for billionaires, while making it harder for Americans to access Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and veterans benefits. That is morally obscene.”
Alsobrooks said the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called last week for a registry of all Americans diagnosed with autism and fired scientists and robbed research facility dollars necessary to find a cure for cancer and Alzheimer’s.
“His boss, Donald Trump, is trying to gut Medicaid to pay for billionaire tax cuts at the expense of vulnerable communities. It is clear that those who have been leading our country these last 100 days and making decisions about our health care are not only wildly unqualified, they are dangerous. Our families deserve better, we are sick of it,” Alsobrooks said.
A paragraph of the report states that the Trump Administration has perpetuated lies about autism, despite research in 2014 that concluded vaccines do not cause autism in children. The HHS announced a large-scale study of the link between autism and vaccines. Kennedy announced he will find the cause of autism and end the “epidemic” by September 2025.
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Rebecca Barnabi
