DeVos: It's not 'personally' my fault I support Special Olympics cuts

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos does not want to be blamed for her full-throated defense of slashing all federal funding from the Special Olympics.

On Thursday morning, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked DeVos pointedly, “Did you personally approve — I think a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ will do — the $18 million cut of the funding for Special Olympics?”

“No, I didn’t personally get involved in that,” DeVos responded.

Durbin responded by saying that whoever came up with the cut should “a Special Olympic gold medal for insensitivity.”

This makes the third day in a row DeVos is struggling to explain why the Department of Education, which she is in charge of, proposed a plan to eliminate all federal funding for the Special Olympics in their most recent budget.

Today, she tried to shift the blame, saying she had nothing to do with it despite spending the past week adamantly defending the cuts.

In a Tuesday hearing with DeVos, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) called the proposed cuts, “appalling.” In the same hearing, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) reminded DeVos that the cuts she wants would impact 272,000 special needs children.

On Wednesday, DeVos released a statement whining about the unfair media coverage over her statements and position. DeVos was unhappy that media reports accurately discussed her desire to slash funding for the Special Olympics, which her statement acknowledged.

In the Wednesday statement, DeVos blamed the “current budget realities” as the reason her department was looking for ways to reduce spending. But the Trump administration didn’t appear concerned at abll about “budget realities” when they championed a $2 trillion, deficit-financed tax scam heavily tilted toward Wall Street banks and the richest one percent.

As soon as those “realities” sunk in, the Trump administration decided that prioritizing the wealthy meant sacrificing assistance to groups like the Special Olympics.

According to the Washington Post, the cuts DeVos defended to the Special Olympics are equal to the cots of just five of Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago.

When it comes to choosing between Wall Street banks, weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago, or funding a program like the Special Olympics, DeVos and the Trump administration have shown us where their priorities lie.

President Truman famously displayed a sign reading “The buck stops here” on his Oval Office desk, a reminder that he would not refuse to take responsibility for his own actions.

It is pretty clear DeVos does not have the same sense of personal responsibility.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.