While protesting cuts to Medicaid and other programs on Wednesday, dozens of people were arrested for what the United States Capitol Police called an illegal demonstration inside the Russell Senate Office Building.
According to USCP, it is illegal to protest inside congressional buildings.
A press release from ADAPT National, an organization that focuses on disability rights, said 11 members of the group were arrested, along with 49 other activists from allied groups Democracy and SEIU. However, USCP told WUSA9 that only 29 people were arrested.
ADAPT National said they were protesting what they called “draconian cuts” to Medicaid and other programs in
President Donald Trump’s budget bill.
The gathering reportedly began with a press conference featuring senators from Oregon and Connecticut. Afterward, the group admits to moving into the Russell rotunda and chanting loudly.
“We won’t stop protesting against this terrible bill, because it means our lives,” said Brandon Ezekiel from Philadelphia ADAPT. “Our tax dollars pay for healthcare for members of Congress, many of whom are very wealthy, even millionaires, and then they have the nerve to cut our tax dollars from paying for health care for us. Not only health care, but also the services that keep us from losing our freedom and being forced into institutions. Medicaid also pays the wages of the people who provide those services for us so it creates jobs.”
Some of those arrested included people who use wheelchairs. ADAPT National says officers took those arrested for processing, some one by one, in wheelchair accessible police vehicles. They were processed and released later that evening, the group said.
