Protester being dragged away by police during a sit-in outside of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's office June 22

The ANSWER Coalition joins the tens of millions of people across the country who are horrified and furious at the healthcare bill introduced June 22 by Senate Republicans. The bill would cut subsidies, roll back the Medicaid expansion, weaken protections for those with preexisting conditions and attack Planned Parenthood and the elderly. It is no exaggeration to say that if passed, this bill would lead to countless deaths while lining the pockets of the insurance corporations.

While the bill was introduced by Republicans, the Democrats in Congress are also responsible. This bill has been in the works since the House of Representatives passed their version of an "Obamacare" repeal in early May, but instead of rallying the people and preparing for militant opposition in the streets as well as inside the halls of Congress, the Democrats engaged in the politics of mass distraction with their single-minded focus on the "Russiagate" conspiracy theory. Based on no solid evidence whatsoever, the Democratic Party has chosen to organize their pathetic excuse for resistance to the Trump administration on a war-mongering, reactionary basis that has as its goal the continuation of a gravely dangerous policy of hostility and confrontation with Russia.

To defeat the Trump agenda, the people need a resistance led by the grassroots, not the Democratic Party elites. That is why the ANSWER Coalition is helping to organize the People's Congress of Resistance, to be held Sept. 16-17 at the Blackburn Center at Howard University. People from across the country will gather to formulate demands, determine a strategy and give direction to a struggle that not only contains the damage from right-wing attacks, but builds the movement for a society where the needs of the people are guaranteed.