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Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats wore pro-Obamacare buttons to the inauguration

Libby Nelson
Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and the House Democratic caucus all showed up to President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration wearing the same button, a navy blue badge that says #ProtectOurCare.

According to CNN, Pelosi’s office handed out the badges, which reference the Republican attempt to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Pelosi’s spokesperson described the buttons as “a show of solidarity” with the president’s signature health care law, although they don’t mention him by name.

Trump has promised to replace it with “insurance for everybody” with “much lower deductibles” — a promise that will be difficult, if not impossible, to keep.

About two-thirds of House Democrats are attending Trump’s inauguration. The others, mostly from safe Democratic seats, are boycotting. Their campaign started as a general response to Trump’s words and behavior during his campaign but expanded to support Rep. John Lewis, who Trump feuded with in public during the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Here’s what the buttons look like:


Watch: Repealing Obamacare could change millions of lives

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