In a shocking moment, a group of radical leftists descended on the U.S. Capitol Building to protest the Medicaid cuts associated with the Big Beautiful Bill, leading police to arrest 34 people who were demonstrating inside one of the Senate’s office buildings.
For context, on June 25, 2025, U.S. Capitol Police officers arrested a large group of demonstrators who had come for a “die-in” inside the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building. The group of protestors reportedly included multiple wheelchair-bound individuals and others who feared that their Medicaid coverage would become unaffordable due to the budget cuts proposed in President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
According to NBC Washington, Capitol Police stated that 33 of the demonstrators were arrested for protesting inside a congressional building, and one other individual was arrested for crossing a police line while officers were processing the arrests. In addition, video footage of the protestors being arrested showed them continuing to shout and chant while being handcuffed.
Speaking to NBC Washington, Analilia Mejia, co-director of the Center for Popular Democracy, the group that organized the protest, said that the demonstration was “about humanity,” adding, “The reality is that when you consider almost half of births in the United States are covered by Medicaid, when you think about the number of Americans who without their insulin, without their heart medication, they would simply die —then, what this is about is keeping people alive.”
Furthermore, Capitol Police told CNBC that the arrests were made because of the location of the demonstration, not because of the nature of the protest itself. “It should be noted that there are other places on Capitol Grounds where people can lawfully demonstrate without issue, they said.” They clarified, “It is against the law to protest inside the Congressional Buildings.”
In addition, video footage of the protest showed the protestors holding a banner that read, “Senate Republicans, Don’t Kill Us.” The banner was reportedly confiscated by the police, but even while they were being arrested, the protestors chanted, “No cuts to Medicaid!” and “Kill the bill!”
Importantly, on June 26, the day after the protestors were arrested, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked by a reporter about the possible Medicaid cuts during a press conference. The journalist reportedly said, “There’s conversations on the Hill right now about the Medicaid cuts. I’m curious, if the final bill that the president’s been talking about comes to him and it has Medicaid cuts in it, will he sign it, or would he rather Congress just do away with those cuts?”
In response, the press secretary did not give a direct answer to the question, saying, “I think our friends in both the Senate and the House know exactly where the president stands on Medicaid.” She then added, “He wants to get rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse, and they are working to do that in the Senate right now.”
Watch the protestors’ arrest:
🚨BREAKING: Leftist protesters against the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ are staging an insurrection and have taken over the U.S. Capitol.
Video: FoxNews pic.twitter.com/lSBzIUhi6j
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) June 25, 2025
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
