Eleven interfaith protestors, including the Rev. William Barber II, were arrested outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office while protesting Medicaid cuts in the GOP’s revised health care bill.
About 50 protestors gathered July 13 for the Capitol Hill rally, before marching to a Senate office building steps from the Capitol.
Some protestors wore red armbands to symbolize a “willingness to engage in civil disobedience,” said Barber, a North Carolina pastor at the forefront of state and national protests focused on poverty and civil rights.
The group was warned three times to stop protesting. Capitol Police then closed off the hallway and arrested any remaining protestors about 20 minutes later.
Barber has repeatedly been arrested for civil disobedience in North Carolina and elsewhere.
Protestors said they want McConnell to know it’s immoral to cut Medicaid because it helps many children, seniors, and disabled persons.
They timed their march with the unveiling of the GOP health care bill, which would repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Critics of the GOP effort, which has run into road blocks this spring and summer, say it will undermine the poorest and most vulnerable Americans.
"Call your God who your God is: capitalism" pic.twitter.com/WvU0okh0y0
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) July 13, 2017
At the rally, Barber called others of faith to action.
“We’re saying today it’s time for other clergy to come,” he said. “It’s time for moral agents to step up. It’s time for us to go down to the house of power and challenge the way power is being used.”
Upon reaching McConnell’s office, Barber, the Rev. Jennifer Butler, CEO of the nonprofit Faith in Public Life, and the Rev. Traci Blackmon, of the United Church of Christ, spoke to the crowd.
Following the arrests, some of the remaining protestors gathered out front for prayer.
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!
