September 25, 2017

Protesters in Wheelchairs Tried to Shut Down an Obamacare Repeal Hearing. Cops Just Arrested Them.

“No cuts to Medicaid, save our liberty.”

Shaylin Sluzalis, sits with her sister Brittani Sluzalis, a Medicaid recipient, as they and others from ADAPT, rally prior to a hearing by the Senate Finance Committee on the Graham-Cassidy health care repeal.Susan Walsh/AP

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At a hearing on the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, Capitol Police removed a number of people in wheelchairs who were protesting proposed cuts to Medicaid funding. “No cuts to Medicaid, save our liberty,” the protesters chanted. The protests, arranged by disability-rights group ADAPT, began as soon as Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) gaveled in the hearing.

After returning the hearing to order, Hatch told protesters: “If you can’t be in order, then get the heck out of here.” Hatch called the demonstrations “good fodder for Twitter,” before adding that the committee is usually above such “shenanigans.”

The latest GOP bill to repeal Obamacare would impose a per capita cap on how much money the federal government offers states for Medicaid, which would decrease spending on the program by hundred of billions of dollars. According to the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, this part of the bill would cut Medicaid spending by $175 billion between 2020 and 2026.

Below is a live stream of the hearing. 

Below are videos of protestors being removed.

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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