Last night, the Senate bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act failed by a close vote. Together with Senate Democrats, Senators Collins, Murkowski, and McCain voted against this legislation. We truly and deeply thank every single Senator who answered the call and who joined the American people in defeating this bill.
This vote heartens us. We do not believe for a second that this fight is over, but we have won an important battle. This victory belongs to the relentless advocacy of thousands of ADAPTers and others who called and wrote and hunted down their Senators, who protested and chanted and got arrested. It belongs to the many who slept rough and who were thrown out of their wheelchairs. This victory belongs as well to the millions of Americans who fought alongside our community against this dire threat. We have been honored by all you have done.
We are heartened as well by the fact that the final, hastily written bill did not include Medicaid cuts. Those cuts would almost certainly have been imposed later in the process, but relentless community activism over the past months has made cuts to Medicaid politically unpalatable for the time being. Advocacy works. Direct action works. Resistance works.
Nevertheless, we know that the battle is not the war. The majority in Congress has long campaigned on Medicaid cuts that will strip the disability community of our lives and liberty. That majority has also long promised to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. They have promised to drastically reduce access to affordable health insurance and Medicaid home and community based services. The Medicaid expansion and the preexisting condition protections in the ACA have helped many with and without disabilities live lives, to raise families, attend churches, and participate in our communities and in the American dream. The majority in Congress will attempt to repeal our liberty. ADAPT will be there when they do.
Now we will focus our efforts on passing the Disability Integration Act, which secures in Federal statute the right of all disabled people to live in freedom and to lead an independent life. Join us in this fight. Together, we can FREE OUR PEOPLE!