Monday, March 23, 2009

Palin whacked Obama’s Special Olympics gaffe after turning down nearly $40 million for kids with disabilities.

Any bets to how long Palin will be Governor of Alaska?

On Friday, Sarah Palin hammered President Obama for his careless remarks about the Special Olympics, professing herself “shocked” at Obama’s “degrading remark” about “precious and unique people.”

But less than 24 hours before hitting Obama this way, Palin turned down nearly $40 million in Federal funding for programs catering to special education kids.
The funding for special needs kids, it turns out, is buried in all that stimulus money for Alaska that Palin drew national criticism for
turning down last week (though there are now doubts about whether she’s made a final decision on them).

The breakdown of the stimulus package money for Alaska lists three categories of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act money. Add them up and you get a grand total of around $36 million.

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget tells me this money would fund programs for the same sort of population served by the Special Olympics.

“This is Federal funding for students with disabilities,” the spokesperson says.


“All of these children would have handicaps, whether they’re physical or mental.” Asked if the population was comparable to the Special Olympics one, the spokesperson said: “It would be an apples to apples comparison.”

Read on.

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