U.S. Capitol Police arrested dozens of people protesting cuts to Medicaid in the Senate Republicans’ health care bill on Thursday.
The protests erupted after Senate Republican leaders released their 142-page discussion draft of a health care bill, triggering a series of legislative steps with one goal – repeal and replace Democratic President Barack Obama’s 7-year-old law.
The protesters filled a hallway in one of the Senate office buildings, outside the office of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
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Some of the protesters were escorted individually. Others were much more reluctant to leave and it took four or five officers to carry them out.
The protesters yelled “no cuts to Medicaid” as they were led away.
One protester said he’s with the disability rights group ADAPT. Phillip Corona said he travelled from Wisconsin to make his voice heard.
Corona said Medicaid helps his son Anthony get out of bed every morning. Phillip Corona fears that changes to the program “would possibly mean putting him in a nursing home.”
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Alison Barkoff – director of advocacy for the Center for Public Representation – helped organize the protest. She says the protesters rely on Medicaid to help them live and she says the health bill amounts to “tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of people with disabilities.”
— With a file from Global News reporter Maham Abedi
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