20 Protesters Arrested after Disrupting House Debt Debate

Expressing outrage over a debt ceiling deal that does not raise revenue, relies solely on spending cuts, including the potential for significant cuts to Medicare later this year, a group of 20 community leaders were arrested at the Republican House caucus meeting at the Capitol.

The group travelled to Washington, DC to demand that Speaker Boehner and the GOP stop protecting the wealthy and Wall Street and instead look for real solutions that create jobs and raise revenue to help Americans who have lost their homes, jobs, or much needed services amidst the economic collapsed caused by Wall Street and Big Banks. Holding a banner that read "Boehner and GOP: Create Jobs, Not Drama," the group disrupted the House debt ceiling debate that was taking place by chanting "Boehner Boehner get a clue, it's about revenue." The group was immediate escorted out by police

"John Boehner should stop worrying about keeping his job as Speaker of the House and start worrying about creating jobs for the millions of Americans who are unemployed," said Bobby Tolbert, a Board Member and leader for the community organization VOCAL who is HIV-positive and relies on Medicare. "Instead of making Wall Street and the super-rich pay to address the revenue crisis, Boehner's extremism forced a debt ceiling deal that will ask seniors, the disabled and working families to do all the sacrificing. It's clear that allowing our country to be held hostage to the demands of the Tea Party is a recipe for disaster," he added.

The debt deal will require trillions of spending cuts for vital services that Americans rely on, including education, healthcare and affordable housing programs, while doing nothing to create jobs or buoy our economy. Medicare alone is threatened with hundreds of billions of potential cuts later this year. Speaker Boehner himself has been driving this deep unbalance with the burden on everyday Americans which comes at a time when the wealth gap between the richest and poorest Americans is the highest since the Census Bureau began tracking household income in 1967 and a recent Pew report demonstrated that the wealth gab between white and black families is the largest it has ever been.

"It is our responsibility to ensure that the GOP and ALL politicians here in DC understand what's at risk - our lives, our families, our communities, our values, our future and the prosperity of America," Agnes Riviera, Community Voices Heard and arrested at House Debt Ceiling debate.

The community leaders were members of VOCAL and Community Voices Heard, two organizations affiliated with National People's Action. Today's action is the first in a series of actions planned by National People's Action around the country targeting politicians during the August recess- Republican or Democratic- who side with Wall Street not everyday Americans.

National People's Action (NPA) is a Network of community power organizations from across the country that work to advance a national economic and racial justice agenda. NPA has over 200 organizers working to unite everyday people in cities, towns, and rural communities throughout the United States.