Care bill activists arrested in D.C.

Arkansas protesters take their cause to Sen. Cotton’s office

WASHINGTON — Arkansas activists were arrested outside Sen. Tom Cotton’s Capitol Hill office early Wednesday afternoon after noisily protesting against health care cuts proposed by congressional Republicans.

U.S. Capitol police, who responded to similar demonstrations at other lawmakers’ offices, had arrested a total of 40 people by 4 p.m., a law enforcement spokesman said.

They were taken to police headquarters for processing and were detained for several hours. They were being released Wednesday evening. Officials had not released the names of those detained.

Video posted online showed Kati McFarland, a wheelchair-bound University of Arkansas student, and Caitlynn Moses, a leader of Ozark Indivisible, as they were taken into custody.

Richard Bruno, a Baltimore physician who grew up in Arkansas, also was arrested, as was another Northwest Arkansas resident, said Leah Garrett, also from the region. She wasn’t detained Wednesday. She attends school in Washington, D.C.

Wednesday was the latest in a string of protests. Forty-three people were arrested June 22 after lying on the floor and holding a “die-in” at the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington.

Cotton didn’t witness the protests. He was at a weekly lunch with Republican colleagues and presided over the Senate later in the afternoon, a spokesman said.

Garrett said the protest lasted perhaps 15 minutes.

Cotton’s Chief of Staff Doug Coutts emerged from the office and spoke with the demonstrators, who had gathered in the reception area. Coutts gave them one of his business cards and offered to listen.

“Everyone was polite,” Garrett said. “[Coutts] asked everyone to not chant because they were doing work. The phones were going off the hook, but nobody was answering any of the phones.”

Eventually, Capitol police arrived.

The protesters moved to the hallways and were given several chances to leave before they were arrested.

Those who remained were charged with violating D.C. Code § 22-1307, which addresses Crowding, Obstructing, or Incommoding, a police spokesman said.

A spokesman for Cotton said his office hadn’t summoned law enforcement officers to intervene.

Harrie Farrow, an activist from Eureka Springs, said it’s possible that others made the call.

“We were loud enough that security could have heard it or other offices could’ve heard it and called. It was one cop and then another cop and then a bunch,” she said.

While McFarland and Moses were at police headquarters, Farrow stood outside in the shade, waiting for their release.

Garrett and Blanca Estevez of Fayetteville attended a protest rally and stopped by a restaurant.

Inside, they bumped into the state’s senior senator John Boozman, a Republican from Rogers.

Boozman posed for pictures and agreed to meet with them at his office to discuss their concerns.

The meeting was set for 8 a.m. CDT today, Garrett said.

“I think we’ll be very much discussing … the health care bill,” she said.

The measure is a disaster for thousands of Arkansans, she said. “It really would be very devastating to Arkansans, especially rural Arkansans.”

Farrow said those lacking health care often suffer.

“I had an uncle who, before

“Without the coverage for preexisting conditions, I will die. That is not hyperbole. I will die. Without the protections against lifetime coverage caps, I will die.”

— Kati McFarland

Obamacare, died on his living room floor in his apartment and was found by his landlady. He had liver cancer, he had no insurance, he didn’t tell anybody. … The doctor said he must’ve been in a lot of pain,” she said.

If he’d had health insurance, “Maybe he would’ve lived [or] maybe he would’ve died a more dignified, less painful death,” she added.

Wednesday wasn’t the first time McFarland and Moses have pressed Cotton to safeguard the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In February, Moses and McFarland participated in a Springdale town hall meeting where the Cotton, a Republican from Dardanelle, was sharply criticized for seeking to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

At the time, McFarland, who has severe health challenges, chastised Cotton — live on CNN — for opposing a program she portrayed as vital.

“Without the coverage for pre-existing conditions, I will die. That is not hyperbole. I will die. Without the protections against lifetime coverage caps, I will die,” she said.

Cotton told her he was committed to “making sure that people, people with conditions as serious as yours or young healthy people, all have access to affordable, quality personalized care.”