'Blow Up the Phones': Resistance Vows Fight as Senate Debates Trumpcare

Hundreds of protesters with the disability rights group ADAPT gathered at the Hart Senate Office Building Tuesday to protest Trumpcare. (Photo: Twitter)

'Blow Up the Phones': Resistance Vows Fight as Senate Debates Trumpcare

Constituents in West Virginia, Nevada, and other states expressed anger after their senators voted in support of a debate on Trumpcare

The Trump Resistance movement vowed to continue the fight against Trumpcare Tuesday afternoon after the Senate voted to proceed with a debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act.

50 Republicans voted to proceed, while Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined all 48 Democrats in voting against the motion. Vice President Mike Pence broke the tie.

Immediately after the vote, Leah Greenberg of Indivisible tweeted a message signaling that the group will continue to mobilize against GOP efforts to repeal the ACA and replace it with a plan that would cut $700 billion from Medicaid spending and end healthcare coverage for 22 to 32 million Americans.

Murshed Zaheed of the social change network CREDO, which placed anti-Trumpcare billboards in key states as so-called moderate Republicans decided how they would vote, also released a statement following the Senate session:

"If Senate Republicans move forward with the repeal of the Affordable Care Act it will be a permanent stain on the record of any senator who supported today's motion to proceed, or the final vote," Zaheed said.

The disability rights group ADAPT has been credited with helping to lead the fight against Trumpcare since the first version of the Republican plan was introduced on June 22. Members of the group spent nearly 60 hours in the Denver office of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), one of the authors of the bill, to protest the legislation.

Hundreds of ADAPT protesters demonstrated on Capitol Hill Tuesday, vowing to stay in the Hart Senate Office Building "until police arrest us, one by one."

The protesters were greeted with applause as Capitol Police escorted them out of the building following the vote.

Several senators who had been considered potential holdouts voted yes--and their constituents appeared poised to put continued pressure on them as the Senate debates Trumpcare in the coming days.

Progressive groups posted a new guide from Indivisible, which has provided users with daily scripts that they can refer to when calling lawmakers' offices. The new guide asks members of the Trump resistance movement to call senators urging them to vote "no" on whichever version of Trumpcare the Senate debates this week.

Nevadans posted on Twitter that they were prepared to vote Dean Heller out of office due to his 11th-hour shift to a "yes" vote.

Meanwhile, National Nurses United released a statement saying that Democrats should seize the opportunity to distinguish themselves from the Republican Party by showing that they support a truly reformed healthcare system:

When Democrats controlled the White House, Senate, and House, they chose to ignore a more fundamental solution to our broken health care system. Instead of enacting a system that would guarantee healthcare for all, as is done around the world, they opted instead for important, but limited reforms that failed to control escalating out of pocket costs, left 28 million without health coverage, and left themselves vulnerable to this Republican crusade to exacerbate what for far too many is an ongoing healthcare crisis.

National Nurses United also cited a poll released last week by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which found that 62 percent of Americans believes it is "the federal government's responsibility to make sure that all Americans have health care coverage."

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