On Wednesday, US Capitol police arrested 33 demonstrators who were part of a larger protest of over 60 people in the Russell Senate Office Building, denouncing the proposed cuts to Medicaid within the Trump-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Some protesters were restrained and arrested while in wheelchairs.
The demonstration was organized by the Debt Collective, Popular Democracy, and the disability rights group ADAPT. Protesters wore shirts with the text “healthcare cuts will kill” and were arrested while unfurling a banner that read “Senate Republicans, don’t kill us, save Medicaid.” The bill is currently moving through the Senate after passing in the House of Representatives.
Medicaid is the nation’s largest public insurance program, which currently insures 71 million people in the US. According to analysis by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the Senate version of the bill would cause roughly 16 million of those people to lose health insurance by 2034. This analysis predicts that the Senate bill would lead to more losses of coverage than the version of the bill which passed in the House. Public health researchers at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania have warned that certain provisions in the House bill could lead to more than 51,000 deaths each year.
Some Republican lawmakers have been callous regarding constituent concerns over Medicaid cuts. Notably, Republican Iowa Senator Joni Ersnt faced nationwide backlash after defending the proposed cuts at a town hall meeting in late May. When one of her constituents shouted that people would die without Medicaid healthcare coverage, Ersnt replied “well, we all are going to die.”
