A diverse coalition of progressive advocacy groups on Tuesday delivered 2.2 million petition signatures to House Democrats demanding that they use their majority to pass Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s gold-standard Medicare for All bill.
The petition delivery hit a brief snag when members of the coalition—representing nurses, physicians, and consumers across the U.S.—were stopped by a Capitol police officer who said the public is not allowed to “deliver” items to members of Congress.
“Does that mean that lobbyists can no longer provide any materials to offices, too?” asked activist Maria Langholz.
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen said it has “delivered petitions to Congress countless times” and “never encountered this before.”
The groups were ultimately able to deliver petition signatures to a number of House Democrats who have yet to co-sponsor Jayapal’s Medicare for All Act of 2019, including Reps. Darren Soto (D-N.J.), Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), and Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa).
“Our members are organizing and pushing other members of Congress to get on board with Medicare for All,” Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of Our Revolution, said in a statement. “Healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and our members will continue to push for it until we get it over the finish line.”
Melinda St. Louis, director of Public Citizen’s Medicare for All campaign, said the 2.2 million petition signatures “are reflective of what we’re seeing at the grassroots level through efforts to win city and county council resolutions in support of Medicare for All.”
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