(Chicago Tribune)
Laura Meckler March 28, 2019
President Donald Trump said Thursday he wants the federal government to continue funding the Special Olympics, an abrupt reversal from his own budget proposal that eliminated federal money for the charity and sparked bipartisan condemnation.
His statement on the South Lawn of the White House came after his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, spent three days defending the proposal, most recently at a contentious Senate hearing Thursday morning.
"The Special Olympics will be funded," Trump told reporters. "I just told my people, I wanna fund the Special Olympics. ... I've been to the Special Olympics, I think it's incredible and I just authorized a funding."
He suggested he had first heard about the budget controversy Thursday morning and that others in his administration were responsible for it, although the cut has been part of all three budgets he has proposed to Congress.
"I have overriden my people," he said.
DeVos said in a statement she welcomed the reversal, and that she had fought behind the scenes to maintain the funding. An aide said she had been overruled by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
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