26 hours and 33 failed amendment votes: This is Democrats' masterclass in resistance [View all]

[SunSeeker]

For a party that has been shut out of power in Washington, what happened this week in Room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building was a masterclass in resistance.

Over more than 26 sleepless hours that began on Tuesday afternoon and continued into Wednesday, Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee pounded the panel’s Republican majority with 33 amendments, most of which were aimed at stripping the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” containing politically toxic cuts to Medicaid. In the hallway outside, police arrested more than two dozen protesters, many of whom were in wheelchairs.

Every one of the amendments failed, as Democrats knew they would. But their coordinated assault on the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda framed a powerful narrative that is shaping up to be the party’s most potent message heading into next year’s midterm elections. The marathon session laid bare the Republicans’ vulnerability on Medicaid. They claim to be rooting out waste and fraud from the system. But, in its essence, the bill amounts to a declaration of who should be deemed worthy of health care in this country.
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Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan) introduced a 6-year-old boy with Down syndrome named George, who attended with his parents. His congressman is Energy and Commerce member John James, a Republican who is running for governor in Michigan. Dingell read a letter from George’s mother, in which she had written: “Losing Medicaid would cripple our family, absolutely destroy us.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/05/15/medicaid-democrats-republicans-energy-commerce/