On Tuesday, February 18, President Trump put out a new executive order related to the authority of independent agencies in the federal government. Such agencies work differently from other mainstream agencies; they do not have leadership as part of the president’s cabinet. This difference makes governance of its agency less influenced by the leading political party. The new executive order requires these independent agencies to work more closely with the White House.

The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is disappointed by the recent statement made by Elon Musk regarding a blind topic expert who spoke before Congress. The speaker from a government watchdog organization testified before Congress about the potential wastefulness of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In response, Elon Musk made a juvenile comment that the blind gentleman could not “see waste” because of his visual impairment. Such a statement is uninformed; Mr. Musk should be held accountable for such a tasteless remark.

Members have requested sample letters that they can use to reach out to their attorneys general concerning the Texas v. Becerra lawsuit. ACB will soon share more detailed example letters that members can utilize. But in the meantime, please look at the link below for resources from another disability advocacy organization for helpful outlines.

DREDF and partners presented a webinar to 3,000 people about Texas v. Becerra, with more unable to join. You can watch the webinar and see the slide deck here, https://dredf.org/disability-community-briefing-what-you-can-do-to-stop-the-attack-on-section-504/

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a pivotal law to uphold the rights of people with disabilities. The law says that all programs receiving federal funding, which is a substantial portion of programs, must provide accommodations for persons with disabilities. We believe that the law is extremely vulnerable at this time. In September of 2024, a lawsuit was brought by 17 states against the U.S.

For Immediate Release

Contact: Scott Thornhill
Executive Director
American Council of the Blind
(202) 467-5081
sthornhill@acb.org

Program area will advance equal access for people who are blind or have low vision

Early this week, the new chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau called for the suspension of work by Bureau employees for at least a week. It is unknown what will transpire after that. The Bureau was established in 2011, and along with many other responsibilities, works to prevent fraud against the American people; the elderly and people with disabilities are more vulnerable to fraudulent activities. ACB will watch this change closely to see what happens with the Bureau. Congress ultimately has the authority to dissolve the agency

After a multitude of challenges from many advocacy groups, the January 27 memo on federal funding freezes has been rescinded. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) put out their own statement to work to walk back the significant amount of misunderstanding that has occurred over the last few days. To our understanding, at this time, impacted programs will continue as expected. However, the White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, emphasized that is was only a rescission of the memo, not the funding freeze policies.