Colleen Flanagan of Boston and other activists in wheelchairs opposed to the GOP's Graham-Cassidy health care repeal bill are removed by U.S. Capitol Police after disrupting a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the last-ditch GOP push to overhaul the nation's health care system Monday. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Protesters dragged out of Senate hearing on Obamacare repeal

A Senate hearing on the GOP’s Obamacare repeal bill was quickly disrupted by protests Monday afternoon, as Capitol Police dragged out a group of disability rights activists who interrupted the session.

The protest forced Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch to temporarily suspend the hearing for roughly 15 minutes as the protesters chanted, “No cuts to Medicaid, save our liberty.”


“If you want a hearing, you better shut up,” Hatch said, as the chants drowned out his attempts to open the hearing — the first and only session scheduled on a repeal plan that’s still a few Republican votes short of passage.

Other Republican senators on the panel, including bill co-author Sen. Bill Cassidy, sat stoically or left the room until police removed the nearly 20 protesters, most of whom were disabled and in wheelchairs.

“Just let the police take care of it,” Sen. Chuck Grassley said to Hatch as the chants erupted.

Hatch later said that he understands why the activists are passionate, but he threatened to cut the hearing short if protests and disruptions continue.

“If the hearing is going to devolve into a sideshow … there’s no reason for us to be here,” he said. “If we can’t have that, we should all be spending our time on something more productive.”

The disruption came amid a full day of planned protests against the repeal bill from patient advocacy and women’s health groups and progressive activists. Hundreds waited outside the hearing room for hours, booing Republican senators as they walked in and later chanting against the repeal bill throughout the hearing.

Those groups — along with Democrats and nearly the entire health care industry — have criticized the so-called Graham-Cassidy bill as unworkable and irresponsible, pointing to the mass coverage losses likely resulting from cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in federal health care funding.

“The process that led to this is an abomination,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the committee. “We’ve just seen, colleagues, some of the frustration.”

Senate Republicans are hoping to speed their repeal bill through the chamber this week, beating a budgetary deadline for passing the legislation by a simple majority.

Brianna Ehley contributed to this report.