'Save our liberty!' Protesters in wheelchairs disrupt hearing on Obamacare replacement bill

Protesters in wheelchairs interrupted Monday's U.S. Senate hearing on the Republicanhealth-care bill aimed at repealing and replacing "Obamacare."

"No cuts to Medicaid!Save our liberty!" they shouted at the Senate finance committee meeting.

The noisy protests forced committee chairman Orrin Hatchto recess the hearing just moments after it began.

Hatch told the protesters, "If you want a hearing, you bettershut up!" His complaint was to no avail as the protests continued.So Hatch then shut down the hearing, saying it would resume whenorder was restored.

Police lugged some demonstrators out of the hearing room andtrundled out others in wheelchairs.

The hearing comes as Senate Republicans pursue a last-ditcheffort to pass legislation totear down former president BarackObama'shealth-care law.Prospects for the bill are uncertain as a decisive handful ofRepublicans remain opposed to the measure by senatorsLindsey Grahamand Bill Cassidy.

Theyappear to be short of votes ahead of a make-or-break deadline at theend of this week.

"We don't have the support for it," Hatch, of Utah,told reporters.

Conservative Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky, said he'd not abandoned hispreviously announced opposition to the measure, despite therevisions and energetic lobbying by President Donald Trump and WhiteHouse officials. He complained that the bill spent too much and saidRepublicans were motivated by fear of punishment by conservative voters if they didn't succeed.

"It's like a kidney stone: pass it, pass it, pass it," Paultold reporters.

McCain, Paul oppose bill

The electricity in the room captured the high stakes as the twoparties battleover whether to defend or obliterate Obama's 2010overhaul of the U.S. health system. Three July failures by Republicans to push earlier billsthrough the Senate led Democrats to rejoice and infuriatedconservatives, prompting Trump to repeatedly savage Republican senators who blocked the party's years-old goal of repeal.

The Cassidy-Graham measure would end Obama's Medicaid expansion and subsidies forconsumers and ship the money $1.2 trillion through 2026 tostates to use on health services with few constraints.

Overnight, the sponsors added billions of extra dollars forstates and language easing Obama's coverage requirements in hopes ofwinning over wavering Republican senators.

But by Monday afternoon, Paul and Sen. John McCain of Arizonaremained against the measure. Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collinsseemed a certain opponent, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski wasundecided and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was opposed, but senior aides said he was looking for changes so he could vote yes.

With their narrow 52-48 majority and solid Democratic opposition,three Republican "no" votes would doom the bill.

The Senate must vote this week for Republicans to have any chanceof prevailing with their narrow margin. Next Sunday, protectionsexpire against a Democratic filibuster, bill-killing delays thatRepublicans lack the votes to overcome.

'Slap in the face': Trump

On Monday, Trump took on McCain, who'd returned to the Senateafter a brain cancer diagnosis in July to cast the key vote thatwrecked this summer's Republicaneffort. Trump called that "a tremendousslap in the face of the Republican Party" in a call to the Rick &Bubba Show,an Alabama-based talk radio program.

Later Monday, Trump tweeted a video montage of several times McCain spoke about repealing and replacing Obamacare, saying, "My oh my has he changed."

Cassidy and Graham defended their bill before the finance committee.

"I don't need a lecture from anybody about health care," Grahamtold the panel's Democrats, whose party uniformly opposes themeasure. Referring to Obama's 2010 overhaul, he added, "What youhave created isn't working."

Also appearing was DemocraticSen. Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii,who learnedearlier this year that she has kidney cancer. She said colleaguesand others have helped her battle the disease with compassion,saying, "Sadly, this is not in this bill."

Republicans provided documents stating that 34 states would getmore health money under the bill than under Obama's law. Thoseincluded Alaska, Arizona, Kentucky, Maine and Texas.

Democrats said the Republican numbers were deceptive because theyomitted the impact of cuts Republicans would impose on Medicaid, thehealth insurance program for the poor and disabled.

Graham and Cassidy's revamped proposal gives states more freedomto charge higher premiums for older and seriously ill people and tosell skimpy, lower-cost policies. The initial versionrequiredfederal approval for such action. It would also let statesunilaterally raise limits Obama's law has placed on consumers'out-of-pocket costs.