Twenty-two protesters were arrested Monday and charged with disruption of Congress after shouting chants against Speaker John Boehner from a House of Representatives gallery, according to the Washington Post.
The protesters, including members of the National People’s Action, Vocal New York, and Community Voices Heard, unveiled a large black banner. They chanted, "Hey, Boehner, get a clue, it's about revenue" and, "Boehner, get off it, it’s time to tax corporate profits" before Capitol Police removed them from the one of the galleries overlooking the chamber.
"What they were protesting is this, what we’re calling a ‘raw deal’ here, the debt-ceiling deal that does absolutely nothing to raise revenue and really asks elderly people, working families, people who have health care needs to make all these sacrifices, whereas letting Wall Street and the super rich off the hook," Amanda Devecka-Rinear, campaign director for the National People’s Action, told The Hill.
Capitol Police closed down part of a hallway because the protesters continued to chant after being moved outside the gallery.
The House later passed an agreement that would raised the debt ceiling until 2013 and cut the federal deficit by about $2.1 trillion over a 10-year period.
Watch video of the protest, courtesy of ShowDownInAmerica.org, below:
Image courtesy of Andrew Kroll
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