A video appears to show U.S. Capitol Police officers arresting disabled protesters in wheelchairs as the Senate debates cuts to medicare funding.

The video, posted to Bluesky by Aaron Black, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)’s senior political advisor, shows Capitol Police swarming the Russell Senate Office Building, escorting disabled protesters from the building, with zip ties around the protesters’ wrists.

People in wheelchairs are getting arrested right now in the Russell Senate Office Building in DC. They showed up to tell Congress not to cut their Medicaid, because they cant afford health care without it. If you look closely you can see the zip ties on their hands. #WeWontGetOverLosingMedicaid

— Aaron Black (@aaronblack.bsky.social) 2025-06-25T18:26:25.367Z

“People in wheelchairs are getting arrested right now in the Russell Senate Office Building in DC. They showed up to tell Congress not to cut their Medicaid, because they cant afford health care without it. If you look closely you can see the zip ties on their hands,” Black wrote alongside the video clip.

READ MORE: Bernie Sanders Says ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Would Strip Health Insurance From 16 Million People

The people in the clip were protesting the proposed budget cuts to Medicaid spending in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” The president’s proposed budget would cut Medicaid spending by $793 billion across 10 years. Medicaid currently costs the U.S. government about $606 billion per year, covering 69% of its total funding. The additional 31%, $274 billion, comes from individual states, according to health policy organization KFF.

The House saw similar scenes as disabled protesters protested the Big Beautiful Bill in May. During that protest, one person shouted “You will kill me!” while police escorted her from a meeting of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, according to the Independent. In addition to cuts, the bill requires states decide every six months on whether or not individual patients are eligible for Medicaid.

“There are lots of people with disabilities … who may not meet the specific social security definition, but who absolutely do have disabilities,” Katy Neas, the CEO of the Arc, a disability advocacy group, told The Independent.

During that protest, 26 people were arrested, according to WJLA. Capitol police said protesting inside congressional buildings is illegal. The law also prohibits protesting on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

The proposed cuts to Medicaid are controversial. An analysis published by the Annals of Internal Medicine said they could result in the additional deaths of as many as 24,600 people per year. According to a new report by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) office, the cuts would also result in, on average, 65% more uninsured people per state.

The office of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released a new report showing that President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” would have devastating effects on the number of uninsured Americans over the next 10 years.

Sanders announced the report Wednesday in a Senate hearing about Trump’s budget proposal passed by the House. In a clip posted to his official Bluesky account, Sanders called out the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and its chair, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), for not commissioning a report itself.

We must not throw 16 million low-income and working class Americans off of the health care they have in order to give massive tax breaks to billionaires.That is obscene.

— Senator Bernie Sanders (@sanders.senate.gov) 2025-06-25T16:56:03.776Z

“Since this committee has refused to bring health care providers before us, I am releasing today a report on the impact that this legislation would have on our nation’s health care system. Committee didn’t do it. We did it. And I did that by reaching out to health care providers all across this country. And let me thank the over 750 health care providers from 47 states, probably every state represented here, who responded to our request,” Sanders said.

READ MORE: ‘Pushed Up to the Edge of the Cliff’: GOP Proposals Would Kick Millions Off Health Care

The Big Beautiful Bill includes a cut to Medicaid spending of $793 billion across 10 years. Medicaid currently costs the U.S. government about $606 billion per year, which covers 69% of its total funding. The additional 31%, $274 billion, comes from individual states, according to health policy organization KFF. These cuts could result in the deaths of as many as 24,600 people per year, according to an analysis published by the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Sanders’ report breaks out the rate of uninsured people across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, between 2023 and 2034. While every state has an increase of at least 20%, the average increase is 65%. Three states—New York, Washington and Massachusetts—will more than double the amount of uninsured people, while the District of Columbia’s number of uninsured will go up by a staggering 229%.

The report also includes quotes from health care providers talking about how the Big Beautiful Bill would affect them.

“If Medicaid is cut, my patients will die. I realize I am being dramatic. It is a dramatic situation.” Dr. Helen Pope of Louisiana told Sanders’ office. “They are humans who are doing their best. Please don’t allow them to suffer more.”

“The provisions would ultimately make healthcare more expensive and less accessible while paradoxically making Medicaid unsustainable. When patients lose access to preventive care, they rely on emergency services and dangerous self-treatment, both driving up costs for everyone. Medicaid allows us to treat and prevent disabling conditions like diabetes and hypertension—without it, these become irreversible.” Dr. Nikhil Kurapati of Ohio said.

“These cuts will cause rural hospitals in Texas to close entirely. As a neurologist, I am terrified that the closest hospital for many rural folks may then be hours away. During an ischemic stroke, there is only 3 hours of precious time . . . the increased travel time may cause unnecessary cases of paralysis and death.” Dr. Audrey Nath of Texas told the senator’s office.

Trump has tried to cut Medicaid before, failing to repeal the Affordable Care Act during his first term. Despite Trump’s efforts, government-assisted health care is still widely popular, with 57% of Americans saying the government should ensure health care, according to a 2023 Gallup poll. Health care in the U.S. ranks last out of 11 high income countries, according to a 2021 study by the Commonwealth Fund.

Image via Shutterstock

President Donald Trump said that the news media had been “caught cheating again” when it reported on claims the president had overstated the success of his strikes on Iran this weekend.

Trump called out the New York Times and CNN by name in a Wednesday post to his social media platform Truth Social.

“We just caught the Failing New York Times, working with Fake News CNN, cheating again! They tried to demean the great work our B-2 pilots did, and they were wrong in doing so. These reporters are just BAD AND SICK PEOPLE. You would think they would be proud of the great success we had, instead of trying to always make our Country look bad. TOTAL OBLITERATION!” Trump wrote.

READ MORE: Nearly One-Third of Republicans Think Trump Needed Congressional Approval for Iran Strike

Trump’s post refers to reporting by the two outlets that early U.S. military intelligence reports showed that the strikes on the three nuclear sites in Iran had merely set the country’s nuclear progress back months, rather than years. The New York Times cited anonymous officials while CNN said it had heard from seven people briefed on the Defense Intelligence Agency report.

While Trump had said the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” the uranium enrichment facilities, the initial report said that the entrances had been destroyed but not the underground structures. Both CNN and the Times did mention that further reports could prove the initial findings incorrect.

A report from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission on Wednesday said that the strike on the Fordo site rendered it “inoperable,” according to the BBC.

“We assess that the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, combined with Israeli strikes on other elements of Iran’s military nuclear program, has set back Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons by many years,” the report said.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency, cast doubt on the IAEC’s report, telling reporters that “no one … is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage” at the site. He also said it’s possible that Iran’s enriched uranium still exists, suggesting it had been moved following Israel’s June 13 strike on Iran. Grossi added that it was unclear how much of the infrastructure to enrich uranium had been damaged.

“When you look at the … reconstruction of the infrastructure, it’s not impossible. First, there has been some that survived the attacks, and then this is work that Iran knows how to do. It would take some time,” he told Reuters.

The Trump administration has not just railed against the news media over reporting on Iran. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff called for an investigation on who specifically leaked the information to CNN and the Times, suggesting that the leakers may be guilty of treason.

“Well, it goes without saying that leaking that type of information—whatever the information, whatever side it comes out on—is outrageous. It’s treasonous,” Witkoff said during a Tuesday appearance on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle. “So, it ought to be investigated, and whoever did it—whoever’s responsible for it—should be held accountable. It could hurt lives in the future. Leaking is a completely unacceptable thing.”

Image via Reuters