Photo taken by Washington Post, See Article “Pelosi delivers speech over screams of health-care activists” By CLICKING HERE

Already in the news, two dozen ADAPT activists in Washington, DC confronted Nancy Pelosi at a progressive conference today. As reported by David Dayen (http://news.firedoglake.com/2010/06/08/dueling-protests-at-pelosi-speech-at-americas-future-now-conference/),

“A bizarre scene at the America’s Future Now conference. Two protests have interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s speech, but she continued on above the very vocal protests as the crowd alternately cheered and shushed. . . . A much louder protest came from nursing home activists who confronted Pelosi shortly after her speech began, arguing for the Community Choice Act. A woman yelled “I don’t want to be taken out of my home!” Apparently she is talking about being forced to go into a nursing home. Speaker Pelosi engaged with the protester, suggesting that the Class Act takes us down the road of long-term care. But the protest refused to stop and indeed grew louder.”

Now these activists need your support to deliver a message to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. While our brave activists faced her in person, you can help by clicking on the link below to let Speaker Pelosi know that you want Americans with Disabilities and older Americans to live in freedom. Here’s a link to the alert: http://tiny.cc/pelosi .

Speaker Pelosi helped lead passage of landmark health care reform legislation, but left behind hundreds of thousands of seniors and people with disabilities who need long term services and supports. Medicaid still mandates that states pay for nursing facility services while leaving home and community-based services optional. Speaker Pelosi can lead Congress to reverse this Medicaid institutional bias by sponsoring and working for passage of the Community Choice Act (CCA). CCA is even more critical now, as states slash budgets for “optional” programs and abandon our people to institutions.

Speaker Pelosi has been repeatedly asked to cosponsor the Community Choice Act and has refused. When ADAPT confronted her in late April, she told Sam Donaldson that there isn’t the money to pay for Community Choice. We know that Community Choice is affordable and that Americans are willing to pay the modest amount of taxes to give people a REAL CHOICE.

Now and in the days to come, tell Speaker Pelosi that we need her commitment to pass the Community Choice Act. The freedom of seniors and people with disabilities is not optional; it’s a fundamental civil right!