June 22, 2017

Police Remove Disabled Protesters Outside Mitch McConnell’s Office

Some of the demonstrators were seen in wheelchairs.

AP

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Chaos erupted outside the office of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Thursday, shortly after Republican leaders unveiled their closely guarded plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. 

Capitol police were seen physically removing demonstrators, many of whom were in wheelchairs and holding medical equipment, as they chanted their disapproval of the draft legislation.

“No cuts to Medicaid,” they said, while blocking hallway access from McConnell’s office.

The protest was reportedly organized by the group ADAPT, an advocacy organization for people with disabilities. Images and video recordings of the scene quickly circulated on social media: 

https://twitter.com/Seth_Lemon/status/877908300549017602

While the dramatic scene unfolded, Democratic senators led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) blasted the bill as “heartless” and a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” 

The public release of the controversial plan followed weeks of secret negotiations in the legislation’s drafting process, prompting criticism from both Democrats and Republicans for the lack of transparency by Senate leadership. The Senate’s version of the bill, which calls for deep cuts to Medicaid spending and the defunding of Planned Parenthood, is said to largely mirror the bill passed in the House. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the House version would lead to 23 million more uninsured people.

The Senate’s measure could be called to a vote as soon as early as next week.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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