By Anita Crane and Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
 (photo: Americans for Prosperity) |
WASHINGTON – A crowd of at least 10,000 descended on the Capitol today to protest the trillion-dollar health
-care bill and storm the halls of congressional office buildings.
With less than a week's notice to prepare for the event, the throng steadily grew as buses unloaded for an "Emergency House Call on Congress" to stop the House from passing the bill.
A group of legislators led by Reps. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.,
and Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., hosted the emergency town-hall meeting to
protest the House Democrats' nearly 2,000-page bill, which is projected
to cost at least $1.1 trillion.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he expects the House take the final version to the floor on Saturday.
But thousands of enthusiastic Americans packed the Capitol grounds, chanting loudly: "Hands off our health care," and "You work for us!"
The following is a video of ralliers shouting, "Kill the bill!"
 Family drove from Pennsylvania to attend today's rally (WND photo / Anita Crane) |
Many attendees wore patriotic clothing, waved U.S. and "Don't Tread on Me"
flags and carried signs that read, "You lie," "No socialistic health
care" and "Politicians lie, patients die." They arrived as early as
8:30 a.m., coming by bus, car
and plane from from all across the country, including states such as
California, Oregon, Washington, Ohio, Iowa, New Jersey, South Carolina,
Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky and Texas.
Dozens of Republican lawmakers led the crowd in prayer and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Patsy
Bailey, a protester at the rally from Durwood, Md., told WND she
believes lawmakers should be subject to their own health-care plan.
"Nobody knows what's in the bill," she said. "Are they going to sign up for this?"
Carolyn Bowman of Germantown, Md., had her own message for
Congress: "I'm totally against government controlling our health care.
Stay out of our lives!"
Eric Johnson from Richmond, Va., said the issue is bigger than health-care reform.
"Along with standard reasons – like we can't afford this, and
don't meddle in our lives – the biggest thing is that I know the people
messing with this don't care about health care," he said. "It's a power
grab, money grab mostly, for the Democratic Party. I'm fed up with the
Republicans, too."
Protester Della Ellar of Richmond, Va., described herself as a
proud WND reader. She plans to ask Nancy Pelosi why she won't accept
the same health-care "reform" she is imposing on America.
 Hessie Harris of Silver Springs, Md., waves U.S. flags as she fights to "get my country back." (WND photo / Anita Crane) |
Hessie Harris of Silver Springs, Md., accused Congress of trying to "raffle off the country."
"I'm here to stop the raffle and get my country back," she said.
Tim Phillips, president of Americans for Prosperity,
a group that helped bus 10,000 Americans to the Capitol, said, "Obama,
Pelosi and Reid refuse to listen to American taxpayers who have clearly
demonstrated through rallies, phone calls and congressional visits that they don't want to pay for a trillion-dollar, government-defined health-care plan."
Missy Smith, president of Women Against the Killing and Exploitation of Unprotected Persons, or WAKE UP, told WND she is leading a sit-in protest outside Pelosi's Washington office.
"We're
protesting because the bill would provide taxpayer funding of
child-killing," she said. "We will crumple the massive bill one page at
a time and leave it tattered on the floor. We are deeply troubled that
Nancy Pelosi wants to fund the murder of innocent babies under the
guise of health care. She's a Catholic, and she should know better."
As
a mother who has counseled many others through the injuries and
haunting sorrow of abortion, Smith said she's ready to be arrested if
that's what it takes to stop this legislation fraught with danger to
women, babies, the disabled and the elderly.
According to Politico, Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, invited
thousands of protesters to enter the House buildings and find their
representatives after the rally.
"I invite you, when the rally's
over, to travel in those halls, look at the walls, find your
(representative) and walk in," she said. "Let them know how you feel
about this bill."
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio,
held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution, and Rep. Pete Hoekstra,
R-Mich., shouted to Pelosi, "Madam Speaker, throw out this bill."
Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., called the bill a "freight train of government spending."
Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis., said he has no question the massive rally was a worthwhile undertaking.
"The concern, patriotism and focus of the people who are here is
sure to have an impact," he said. "It may not overnight, but it's
definitely making a difference."
The following is a video of Petri's comments:
Actor John Voight, "Liberty and Tyranny" author Mark Levin and
Dr. Betsy McCaughey, former New York lieutenant governor, also spoke at
today's event.
Voight told the crowd the Obama administration's "lies and deception are blatant," Politico reported.
"Maybe it was the 20 years of subconscious programming by Rev. Wright to damn America," he said.
The crowd cheered wildly for Rep. Bachmann as a protester shouted, "Palin/Bachmann 2012!"
Bachmann declared to a tightly packed group, "You came! You came to your House! We put the word out just a couple of days ago, and you came!"
As WND reported,
Bachmann had been urging citizens to come "by the carload" to
Washington and "pay an emergency House call to Congress" this week.
"This is the most effective way we have to kill socialized
medicine," she told WND. "Nothing is more effective at reaching a
congressman than having a citizen come to Washington, D.C. – not asking
for a handout, not asking for tax money, not asking to take some
liberty away from somebody else, but just asking for freedom."
Bachmann noted that Pelosi may have garnered the 218 votes necessary to pass the legislation Saturday.
Rep. Hoyer told reporters today, "We certainly have well over 218 people who say they want to vote for the bill."
Bachmann asked citizens to bring video cameras, office numbers
and phone numbers of their representatives so they can find them and
"get them on video saying how they will vote." The bill, if adopted,
she said, "will be a disaster. It is unconstitutional. We need the help
of American people."
WND editor Joseph Farah urged citizens who could not attend the rally to send "pink slips" to every member of Congress.
Bachmann
said Americans are sending a crucial message to Congress today, making
it clear that they do not support the Democrats' health "reform."
"We Republicans can't stop the passage," she said. "But with
resistance from the American people, I am fully confident it can be
defeated."
Developing …
(Editor's note: Concerned citizens may contact their respective representatives and senators.)