In October 2016, Ady Barkan — a California-based activist at the Center for Popular Democracy — was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Last year, he was going for long jogs along the Santa Barbara coast. Today, he doesn’t have the strength to cut a piece of meat at the dinner table or pick up his 30-pound toddler. Within a few years, if the disease progresses as expected, he will be fully paralyzed and rely on technology that lets him communicate with eye movements. Between now and then, he’ll need a ventilator to breathe, a food tube, and nursing care. All of that requires the federal government’s disability program. Despite his impairments — and, in some ways, because of them — Barkan was in the nation’s capital this week to protest against the GOP tax reform bill moving through Congress. While the media has treated the tax plan as if it has already passed, Barkan is part of a grassroots resistance that is refusing to roll over. Because of the way the bill is written, the administration would get wide latitude to cut federal spending to deal with ensuing deficits. In fact, statutory pay-as-you-go, or PAYGO, rules would require such cuts. Office of Management and Budget chief Mick Mulvaney has made no secret of his antagonism to the government’s disability programs, and he’d be the man in charge of administering these cuts. Although Barkan was there protesting on behalf of the entire country, the bill would have a potentially lethal impact on himself and his loved ones. “It’s pretty fucking scary to think they’re going to eliminate [disability] or reduce it in order to give Apple another $27 billion,” Barkan told The Intercept in an interview. Barkan’s previous activism with the Fed Up project has focused on forcing the Federal Reserve to take job creation and wages into account when making monetary policy. In terms of pure effectiveness, it has been one of the most impressive economic campaigns in a generation. Earlier this week, as part of his protest against the tax bill, he was arrested outside the office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who is the richest member of Congress.

Ady Barkan, center, and other protesters stand holding placards with labor market data at the Jackson Hole economic symposium, sponsored by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, at the Jackson Lake Lodge in Moran, Wyo., on Aug. 21, 2014. Photo: Bradly Boner/Bloomberg News/Getty Images

On the way back to California, the flight routed through Phoenix. And on the way to his seat, Barkan came across none other than Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was also on the airplane. Barkan stopped by Flake and explained his medical condition and the threat the tax bill potentially poses to people who are dependent on these programs. A member of the flight crew asked Barkan to get to his seat, but Flake agreed to come and discuss the issue with him during the flight. About an hour later, Flake made good on his promise and came to Barkan’s seat. Barkan had found that another activist, Liz Jaff, was also boarding his plane. The two struck up a conversation and Jaff was able to record the exchange.