President Donald Trump said he would override an Education Department proposal to slash funding for the Special Olympics, which had little chance of becoming reality. | AP Photo/Susan Walsh Education Trump backs off proposed cuts to Special Olympics: 'I have overridden my people'

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the federal government will not slash $17.6 million in funding for the Special Olympics — overriding his administration's proposed cuts after they sparked a bipartisan uproar.

"The Special Olympics will be funded, I just told my people, 'I want to fund the Special Olympics,'" the president told reporters outside of the White House ahead of his trip to Michigan. "I have overridden my people."


Responding to Trump’s announcement, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a statement: "I am pleased and grateful the President and I see eye to eye on this issue and that he has decided to fund our Special Olympics grant. This is funding I have fought for behind the scenes over the last several years.” POLITICO reported earlier that DeVos had objected to the proposed cut in the past.

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Federal money for Special Olympics education programs would be eliminated under the Education Department's fiscal 2020 proposal, but the plan faced little chance of becoming reality. Congress previously rejected plans in the Trump administration's past two budget proposals to eliminate funding for the programs, and instead increased funding to the Special Olympics.

But the proposal this time led to a social media outcry after DeVos’ defense of the Trump administration budget request during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday went viral.

On Wednesday, DeVos fired back at criticism of her department's proposed cuts, blaming “falsehoods and fully misrepresenting the facts" from the media and some members of Congress.

However, DeVos on Thursday told lawmakers that "I didn't personally get involved" in the decision to propose slashing the funding, under questioning from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).

Durbin called the elimination of the Special Olympics money "shameful" and said "someone has to accept responsibility for a bad decision."

He added: “Whoever came up with that idea at OMB gets a Special Olympics gold medal for insensitivity.”

Other Democratic lawmakers piled on via Twitter, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who tweeted, “Betsy DeVos ‘loves’ the Special Olympics so much, she wants to cut federal funding for it.”

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, retweeted DeVos’ Wednesday statement and called her “the worst education secretary in living memory.”

“We need opportunities for all of our kids—not just some of them,” she wrote.

The federal cash is just a portion of the overall revenue from all sources for the Special Olympics, which reported $124 million in unrestricted revenues, gains and other support for the year ending Dec. 31, 2017, according to a financial statement posted on its website. The funding goes toward programs in thousands of U.S. schools and not global Special Olympic competitions.

The White House has consistently included the Special Olympics cuts in its budget proposals, despite past objections from DeVos, a former agency official involved in previous budget processes told POLITICO.

“This has always come from the White House,” the former official said, speaking on background.

Benajmin Wermund contributed to this report.

