Several grassroots organizations are planning to hold a die-in on the steps of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Tuesday afternoon to protest the Republican Party’s latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. The bill would include cuts to vital programs that would disproportionately harm communities of color.
The protest is scheduled to take place at 1:30 p.m. EST. Organizers are urging lawmakers to vote against the “severely problematic” measure proposed by Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, according to a press release from the Working Families Party. The measure would roll back protections for people with pre-existing condition, defund Planned Parenthood and cut Medicaid. Cuts to Medicaid alone would affect 33 percent of African Americans and 31 percent of Hispanics covered by the program, the release states.
Besides members of the Working Families Party, activists from Medicare for All Supporters and the March To Confront White Supremacy will stage a die-in in the Russell Senate Building at Capitol Hill as a symbolic demonstration of the lives in danger if the GOP passes the “Graham-Cassidy” bill.
“If the GOP succeeds on Graham-Cassidy, tens of thousands of people will die,” Nelini Stamp, organizing director of the Working Families Party, said. “Health care is a human right — and we need to be working to ensure more Americans have access to life-saving care, not less.”
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced her decision not to support the bill, becoming the crucial third Republican to oppose it.
The measure appears dead on arrival. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins on Monday announced her decision not to support the bill, joining senators John McCain of Arizona and Rand Paul of Kentucky. So far, Republicans have not been able to garner the 50 votes needed to pass the bill.
SOURCE: Working Families, The March To Confront White Supremacy
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