On Saturday the House of Representatives is expected to vote on its version of the massive health care reform bill
Supporters say the bill goes a long way toward providing health care to the 40-million Americans who have no insurance. But opponents say the bill is far too costly -- and could cripple the nation's health care system.
Thousands of those opponents descended on Washington today to make their voices heard. Two busses full of protesters got a warm welcome when they returned home to Bel Air. ‘I don't like what they're doing to our country,’ said Diane Albrecht of Bel Air after returning from the trip. ‘I mean this is bankrupting our country it's bankrupting my kinds, my grand-kids. How much are we supposed to take of this stuff?'
‘This stuff's been worrying me since when Obama was elected,’ added David Turnbaugh of Baltimore County. ‘This is a matter I think of life and death.’
State Senator Andrew Harris was among the demonstrators welcoming the protesters back to Bel Air. He lost to the current first district congressman, Frank Kratovil last year -- and he's planning another run next year. Thursday night a spokesman for Kratovil -- a Democrat -- told ABC-2 News that the congressman would be voting ‘no’ on health care reform this weekend. ‘All I can say is it took the congressman a long time to come to that conclusion. Much longer than it should have taken,’ Sen. Harris said.
The protesters hope their day in Washington will convince more Democrats to vote no. Some of them, like Bernie Agorski, made it inside the US Capitol. ‘So I said if they won't let us come close, if they won't see us, they'll hear us. So we started chanting kill the bill, kill the bill in the corridors,’ she said.
As the protesters gathered, President Obama got a boost from the American Medical Association and the AARP, who threw their support behind the reform plan. Patrick McGrady owns a real estate business in Harford County, and he disagrees with their assessment. ‘If we don't stop this bill from passing in the form it is in the house, it's going to kill me. I'm going to have to lay people off,’ he said.
If the House passes its version of health care reform on Saturday the organizers of the rallies say they'll turn their attention to the US Senate. They say they're confident that Democrats will have a hard time finding the necessary 60 votes to pass the legislation.
