Police remove protesters in wheelchairs from Senate hearing on Obamacare
A US Senate hearing on a Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act has been disrupted by protests, as Capitol Police forcibly removed a group of demonstrators in wheelchairs who were protesting proposed cuts to Medicaid.
“No cuts to Medicaid, save our liberty,” the protesters chanted on Monday afternoon. The action, which was organized by disability-rights group ADAPT, forced Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch to temporarily suspend the hearing for 15 minutes.
“If you want a hearing, you better shut up,” Hatch said, as the chants drowned out his attempts to start the session.
After returning the hearing to order, Hatch told protesters, “If you can’t be in order, then get the heck out of here.”
The Republican senator called the protesters “good fodder for Twitter,” proclaiming that the Senate panel is above such “shenanigans.”
Other senators on the panel, including co-author of the bill Sen. Bill Cassidy, either sat or left the room until police removed the protesters.
Capitol Police made a total of 181 arrests, including 15 in the hearing room, according to some reports.
The session was the first and only hearing on the latest GOP plan to repeal Obamacare, which would impose a per-capita cap on federal funding for Medicaid, a program for low income citizens and disabled children.
According to the left-leaning Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the legislation would cut Medicaid spending by $175 billion between 2020 and 2026.
The measure, however, is still a few Republican votes short of passage. Moderate Senate Republicans have joined John McCain of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky in rejecting the bill.
It was a major blow for President Donald Trump, who has made repealing former President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law his top legislative priority.
Congressional Republicans believe that Obamacare, while extending health insurance to some 20 million Americans, is a costly government intrusion into the healthcare system.
Democrats kept up their pressure to prevent the passage of the bill.
“The Trumpcare bill would gut Medicaid, would cause millions to lose coverage, cause chaos in the marketplace,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said at a speech on the Senate floor.
Schumer said once Obamacare repeal is off the table, Democrats would work with Republicans “to find a compromise that stabilizes markets, that lowers premiums.”
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