Bob Gatty
Sep 26, 20171 min
So yesterday Senate Finance Committee Republicans held a "hearing" in which the sponsors of the ill-conceived Graham-Cassidy "health care" bill defended their effort to repeal and replace Obamacare. What resulted? A bunch of disabled people in wheelchairs getting arrested for objecting to the devastating impact the bill would have on Medicaid.
They held the hearing in a room that would accommodate an audience of 30, forcing hundreds into the hallway and providing a field day for the media and photographers as Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) warned demonstrators to shut up or they would get thrown out.
It was an image to behold, Hatch and his sidekick Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley looking so perplexed as demonstrators, many in wheelchairs, chanted "No cuts to Medicaid. Save our liberty!"
"I'm so sorry about this process," co-sponsor Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), said as he testified in support of his bill.
This was not a shining star moment for the GOP, which has fought long and hard to fulfill their campaign promise to bring an end to Obamacare -- regardless of the consequences.
Here's The Washington Post's Dana Milbank's take on this ordeal. It's worth a read.