Wanting a Conversation With Ryan, Disabled Get Arrested Instead

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The Hill Excerpt:
Several hundred demonstrators with disabilities gathered outside Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) office Tuesday to protest his budget’s proposed reduction in Medicaid funding.

Nearly 300 members of the national disability-rights group ADAPT — many in wheelchairs — initially lined up outside the Longworth building, and a dozen congregated inside the House Budget chairman's second-floor office.

The American Independent Excerpt:
Tonight, Capitol Police have begun arresting ADAPT members from all over the country, who have remained in the Cannon House Office Building since midday. The ADAPTers want Representatives Paul Ryan, John Boehner and Michelle Bachmann to publicly withdraw their support for Medicaid budget cuts and Medicaid state block grants. Without this commitment, ADAPT has decided to make a point that we are willing to do whatever it takes to defend the right of people with disabilities and seniors to live in our homes, not nursing homes and institutions. It is unacceptable for our own government to treat the 60 million Americans who rely on Medicaid like garbage.

Ervin told TAI that about 100 people have been arrested so far, many of them chanting “I’d rather be in jail than in a nursing home!” He said Ryan sent his chief of staff to speak wit the protesters but that Speaker of the House John Boehner refused to speak to the organization. Representatives who talked to the group and listened to their demands included: John Lewis (D-Ga.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and Barney Frank (D-Mass.).