The budget proposed by President Trump and backed by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calls for nearly $18 million in cuts to the Special Olympics.

DeVos today defended the deep cuts to programs meant to help students and others, while urging Congress to spend millions more on charter schools.

“We are not doing our children any favors when we borrow from their future in order to invest in systems and policies that are not yielding better results,” DeVos said in prepared testimony before a House subcommittee considering the Department of Education’s budget request for the next fiscal year.

When asked by Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) whether she know how many children the cuts would affect, DeVos told the subcommittee, “I don’t know the number of kids.”

Pocan then asserted that roughly 272,000 would be impacted.

It was the first time that DeVos, a wealthy former Michigan Republican Party chairwoman and school choice advocate, had been called before a Democratic-led panel in the U.S. House to explain Trump’s spending priorities.

In addition, the DeVos plan would cut $51 million from Autism programs, $7.5 million from institute for the blind, and $5 million from books for the blind.

While proposing to add $60 million more to charter school funding and create a tax credit for individual and companies that donate to scholarships for private schools, DeVos’ budget proposal would still cut more than $7 billion from the Education Department, about 10 percent of its current budget.

Trump proposed a $4.7 trillion overall budget this month with an annual deficit expected to run about $1 trillion.

It calls for eliminating billions in grants to improve student achievement by reducing class sizes and funding professional development for teachers as well as cutting funds dedicated to increasing the use of technology in schools and improving school conditions.

In many cases, DeVos said the purpose of the grants has been found to be redundant or ineffective.

In the case of the $17.6 million cut to help fund the Special Olympics, a program designed to help children and adults with disabilities, DeVos suggested it is better supported by philanthropy and added, “We had to make some difficult decisions with this budget.”

In @BetsyDeVosED’s budget, there are major cuts to programs like the Special Olympics. Sec. DeVos didn’t know the number of kids who would be hurt by that cut, so I made sure she now knows that 272,000 kids are seeing their support taken away. pic.twitter.com/6ZiOfDU4Ou — Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) March 26, 2019

DeVos has been a longtime supporter of charter schools — independently run, publicly funded schools that typically aren’t as closely regulated as traditional schools — and school choice for public school students, arguing that parents should be able to put their children into the schools of their choice and that funding should follow them.

Almost immediately Americans took to Twitter to voice their frustrations with DeVos and her decision to back Trump’s proposal to end all funding for the Special Olympics:

Plutocracy in a nutshell. Billionaire Betsy DeVos parlays her money and charity, which undercuts public education, into a cabinet post. She makes a show of donating her salary to the Special Olympics. And she uses her position to cut funding for it on a vastly greater scale. https://t.co/Re7F4DNSNE — Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) March 26, 2019

Betsy DeVos, on cutting funding to the Special Olympics: "We had to make some difficult decisions." The Special Olympics cost around $18 million, or about the same as five of Trump's golf trips to Mar-a-Lago. It's not a difficult decision. It's an evil one. — Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) March 26, 2019

Betsy DeVos proposed cuts •$51 million from Autism

•Eliminating all funding for Special Olympics

•$7.5 million from institute for the blind

•$5 million from books for the blind “Don't tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I'll tell you what you value”. -Biden — MommaT (@tweetmommybop) March 26, 2019

DeVos testifying today admits the regime has cut federal funding for the Special Olympics. Every week, rights and protections are taken away from marginalized communities, women and the disabled. https://t.co/pA7wANRziW — Amy Siskind ?️‍? (@Amy_Siskind) March 26, 2019

Betsy DeVos donating a portion of her salary to the Special Olympics only to turn around and decimate the entirety of its funding is a special kind of plutocrat savior ableist bullshit. — Liz Plank (@feministabulous) March 26, 2019

Betsy Devos, faux Christian, proclaims had to slash budget for Special Olympics cause they "had to make tough decisions." Apparently, harming the lives of disabled children is less tough to Betsy than, say, dipping into $2 trillion in tax cuts she and 1% got from Trump. — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) March 26, 2019

Betsy DeVos? More like Betsy DeVoid of basic human empathy. Amirite? — Sarah Watson (@SarahWatson42) March 26, 2019

Betsy DeVos' has a net worth of $5.2 billion.

She could personally fund the special olympics with pocket change.

But the joy she gets in cruelty is priceless.

So this: https://t.co/L9z8bsAF1R — Steve Marmel (@Marmel) March 26, 2019

Just when you think Trump’s regime can’t be any crueler, Betsy DeVos cuts all of the funding for the Special Olympics. If you are wondering how these people sleep at night it’s because they have no soul. The only thing they care about is wealth and power. — Ryan Knight ?? (@ProudResister) March 26, 2019

Betsy DeVos celebrated Down Syndrome awareness month by cutting all funding to Special Olympics. That’s how this administration rolls. — Steve Redmond (@sjredmond) March 26, 2019

Just when you thought the Trump admin couldn’t possibly stoop any lower Betsy DeVos and Co. cut all funding for the Special Olympics. There. Is. No. Bottom. — Adam Best (@adamcbest) March 26, 2019