Senate Democrats are urging the Trump administration to drop its plan to ditch the Army’s preference for blind vendors, calling the move unjustified and saying it will hurt job opportunities for workers with disabilities.
The Education Department disclosed in December that blind applicants would no longer get the same priority to operate the Army’s dining halls, claiming the policy has led to “significant price and efficiency issues.” The change, first reported by HuffPost, would effectively kill a policy that’s been in place at the Army since the Great Depression to help combat job discrimination against the blind.
In a letter Friday to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote that the change “halts blind entrepreneurs from serving our servicemembers” and jeopardizes 24 contracts on 22 Army bases.
“The Department of Education provided little evidence or justification for this change, which shows a deep disregard for the history and purpose of the Randolph-Sheppard program,” Markey wrote, referencing the 1936 law that created the preference. “We should be expanding employment opportunities for people with disabilities, not rolling it back.”
Markey, the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, challenged McMahon to produce documentation proving the program hurts Army readiness, as the Education Department claimed when announcing the change.
