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disability rights
Medicaid Defenders in Wheelchairs Arrested Ahead of Senate Vote on 'Betrayal of a Bill'
"If you're zip-tying grandmas protesting losing healthcare maybe you're not the good guys in the story?" quipped one critic.
Jun 25, 2025
Dozens of peaceful protesters including people in wheelchairs were arrested inside a U.S. Senate building in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday while protesting Republicans' proposed cuts to Medicaid spending in the budget reconciliation package facing votes on Capitol Hill in the coming days.
The group Popular Democracy in Action said that "today, over 60 people were arrested in the Russell Senate Building Rotunda in a powerful act of nonviolent civil disobedience" against "cuts to essential social programs like Medicaid" and the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Protesters were zip-tied and dragged from the building by police after demonstrators unfurled three large banners inside the rotunda with messages calling on lawmakers to protect Medicaid and other essential social programs. One of the banners read, "Senate Republicans Don't Kill Us, Save Medicaid."
If you’re zip-tying grandmas protesting losing health care maybe you’re not the good guys in the story?
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— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act being pushed by U.S. President Donald Trump would slash federal Medicaid spending by billions of dollars, introduce work requirements for recipients, and impose other conditions that critics say would result in millions of vulnerable people losing their coverage in order to pay for a massive tax cut that would disproportionately benefit wealthy households and corporations.
"Nearly 80% of Americans support preserving and expanding Medicaid, yet this bill would do the opposite—slashing $880 billion from care to fund $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for billionaires," Popular Democracy in Action said in a statement. "Over 16 million people could lose coverage over the next decade if the proposed spending bill passes, and new work requirements threaten to strip lifesaving care from those who need it most."
Popular Democracy in Action said Wednesday's press conference, which preceded the civil disobedience, "underscored the urgent need for Congress to divest from endless wars abroad and invest in our communities at home. Participants have one clear message for Senators currently debating the bill: 'We need to kill this bill, before it kills us all.'"
"Nearly 80% of Americans support preserving and expanding Medicaid, yet this bill would do the opposite."
In addition to Popular Democracy in Action, groups including the Service Employees International Union, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), Debt Collective, Stand Up Alaska, Action NC, Arkansas Community Organizations, and American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today (ADAPT) took part in Wednesday's protest, which followed similar past actions in defense of Medicaid.
"Yesterday was the three-year anniversary of the deadly, disastrous Dobbs decision that has literally put our lives on the line," PPFA president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson said at the protest. "In this big, bad betrayal of a bill there is a provision to defund Planned Parenthood."
"Half of our patients rely on Medicaid to get access to care. What they would do, is put at risk a third of all of our health centers, and there's nowhere for our patients to go to be absorbed into the system," she continued. "That puts at risk access to contraception, breast exams, cancer exams, wellness exams, access to STI testing and treatment—just to give billionaires a tax break."
"And here's a kicker, for the 1 million patients who rely on that care, 90% of those health centers are in states with abortion access," McGill Johnson added. "So we need to call this what it is: a backdoor abortion ban."
Earlier in the day members of these groups were joined at a press conference by U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who condemned the GOP bill.
"I'm the point person for the Democrats in this fight—and it's the most important fight I've ever been in, because this battle this week is going to determine the future of American healthcare," said Wyden. "Are you for caviar or kids? Mar-a-Lago or the middle class? Hedge funds or healthcare? I know what side you're on—now we have got to make sure that a whole lot of Senate Republicans make the right choice too."
While it is uncertain how many—if any—upper chamber Republicans will oppose the bill, more than a dozen House GOP lawmakers claimed Tuesday that they would not back the Senate's version of the legislation due to Medicaid cuts.
Both chambers of Congress are scheduled to recess for the July 4th holiday next week. Trump is pushing lawmakers to vote on the package before the break. Under reconciliation rules, both chambers must pass identical versions of the legislation.
Most proponents of the bill are determined to pass it with the Medicaid cuts. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that "failure is not an option."
"I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid," McConnell noted. "But they'll get over it."
#WeWontGetOverLosingMedicaidRepublicans don’t GAF about us…📌 Today, Capitol Police are threatening to arrest people in wheelchairs.📌 Yesterday, McConnell said “failure is not an option” and this…
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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) June 25, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Participants in Wednesday's protest vowed to keep battling to preserve Medicaid.
"The stuff we're fighting for, the kind of healthcare, long-term services, housing, well-paid work with paid days off and benefits—those are the things we've fought for for 50 years," said Mike Oxford of ADAPT. "We've been fighting for years... we're not backing down."
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Medicaid Cuts Put Services for Vulnerable People at Grave Risk
Medicaid doesn’t just provide healthcare. It is the single largest payer for the community-based services people with intellectual and developmental disabilities need to live, work, and thrive in our communities.
May 22, 2025
With the House passing their budget reconciliation bill with a vote of 215-214, hundreds of billions in proposed cuts to Medicaid have moved one step closer toward very real, harmful consequences, including for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, or I/DD, whose health, safety, and quality of life depend on Medicaid.
Medicaid doesn’t just provide healthcare. It is the single largest payer for the community-based services people with I/DD need to live, work, and thrive in our communities—services that range from assistance with intimate activities of daily living and personal hygiene, to employment supports to find and maintain a job, to providing residential and in-home supports to support independent living.
If lawmakers approve the proposed cuts to Medicaid, state budgets will be unable to absorb the financial shock. Even if targeted to other groups like those made eligible for services through Medicaid expansion, programs that enable people with I/DD to meaningfully participate and thrive in our society will be the first to go. We know because home- and community-based services for people with I/DD are optional services, meaning they are some of the last services to be funded when there’s a state funding shortfall. We saw this following the Great Recession when, following cuts to federal funding, every single state made cuts to services and 36 states specifically made cuts to services for people with I/DD.
If lawmakers truly care about boosting economies, they would invest in, not divest from Medicaid, because these services actually play a critical yet often invisible role in state economies.
Divesting from Medicaid will be devastating to providers of I/DD services who are already struggling immensely due to insufficient Medicaid reimbursement rates that haven’t kept pace with inflation. As a direct result, 90% of community providers report moderate to severe staffing shortages as workers seek out higher-paying jobs in entry-level retail, convenience, and fast food industries. Without sufficient staffing, 69% of community providers report they’re unable to take new referrals for people with I/DD who need and qualify for services.
Medicaid cuts by another name in the form of increased red tape eligibility requirements or work reporting requirements also threaten people with disabilities, who may lose coverage due to barriers completing onerous reporting requirements, even if they are provided an exemption. Such requirements also threaten to further exacerbate the direct support workforce crisis, as 49% of direct care workers rely on public assistance programs themselves, and approximately one-third work part-time or with inconsistent schedules—two job features that are generally incompatible with work reporting requirements. If direct support professionals, the very backbone of disability services, are unable to meet burdensome reporting requirements, it will only force them to find more stable, higher-paying jobs outside of care work.
If lawmakers truly care about boosting economies, they would invest in, not divest from Medicaid, because these services actually play a critical yet often invisible role in state economies.
New York State’s $6.7 billion investment in home- and community-based services generated $14.3 billion in economic activity, while Maine is estimated to have lost out on over $1 billion due to its shortage of direct care workers. That’s because Medicaid-funded services create jobs, while enabling the family members and caregivers of people with I/DD to remain in the workforce too. Without services, families are also more likely to need public assistance.
The House’s budget proposal will force unthinkable decisions on states and providers. It will undoubtedly lead to people with I/DD losing access to services, potentially being forced to languish in their homes without the assistance they need for using the restroom, supportive hygiene, and preparing and eating meals. It will lead to people with I/DD losing their jobs without the employment supports they need to maintain their careers. And it could mean unnecessary institutionalization of people whose right to live and thrive in their communities was codified by the Americans with Disabilities Act and, later, the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C.
Senators hold the opportunity to continue protecting our most vulnerable populations by rejecting any cuts to Medicaid and not putting further stress on a system already in crisis.
Update: This piece has been edited to reflect the fact that the U.S. House of Representatives passed their budget reconciliation bill on the morning of May 22, 2025.
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Disability Advocates, Civil Rights Groups Sound Alarm on RFK's Reported Autism 'Registry'
Advocates still have concerns about Trump administration officials' efforts to study autism, even after the Health and Human Services Department said there will be no autism registry.
May 13, 2025
Dozens of public health, disability rights, and civil rights groups on Monday raised "significant concerns" about a walked-back proposal from the National Institutes of Health—an entity within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services—to create a national autism registry.
Their concern stems from April comments first reported by CBS News from NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who said during a meeting that NIH intends to create national disease registries, including one for autism. However, HHS later said it is not creating a national registry for people with autism, walking back Bhattacharya's comments.
However, NIH is moving forward with creating a "real-world data platform," which Bhattacharya also discussed during that meeting. The platform will partner with federal health insurance programs and use information from Medicare and Medicaid in order to determine the "root causes" of autism, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Kennedy has drawn pushback for his comments about autism in the past, including when he recently cast autism as a "tragedy" and an epidemic that "destroys families."
In a Monday letter addressed to Kennedy, the groups argue that even though HHS has said it is not creating such a registry, "the larger platform's unclear purpose and potential for abuse necessitates that HHS and NIH engage with disability and civil rights advocates and implement fundamental safeguards."
According to New York Times reporting on the database, it "is not clear precisely what kind of research will be conducted."
David Mandell, a professor of psychiatry and longtime autism researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Times it's "the registry without the word 'registry' in it."
"We are creating a tool, and tools can be used for good and for evil," he also said. "I know a lot of researchers—and I like to think of myself as one—who have used this kind of tool for good. And I'm really concerned that that's not what happens."
According to the letter, lack of clarity around what NIH specifically plans to do has led to "immense concern" among autistic people, their families, researchers, and privacy advocates.
"HHS and NIH's failure to engage with autistic people and autistic advocates has exacerbated this lack of clarity," the letter alleges.
Letter signatories include the American Civil Liberties Union, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), and the Autism Society of America.
The groups outline three steps they say NIH and HHS can take to help establish trust around its proposed platform: "Meaningful communication with autistic people and advocates; fundamental privacy safeguards to prevent misuse and abuse; and ensuring the data platform advances the well-being of autistic people, people with disabilities, and the public health while minimizing potential harms."
The groups wrote that some data collection can enable better understanding of how to meet the needs of people with disabilities, but "disabled people in the United States have a long and troubled history with governmental efforts to find and track disability for the purpose of eliminating it."
"It's no secret that this proposal has created a lot of fear and confusion in the autistic community," said Colin Killick, executive director of ASAN, in a statement on Monday. "We continue to advocate and support research into autism that autistic people want conducted, but it is critical that autistic people's private data not be shared without our consent. We hope the administration answers our questions to shine light on how autistic people and our rights will be protected."
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