Oregon’s Congressional Delegation Will Rally in Portland on Sunday to Protest Repeal of Obamacare

Anti-Trump vigil in November 2016. (William Gagan)

Five members of Oregon's congressional delegation, including both U.S. senators, will attend a rally in North Portland this Sunday to protest the impending repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

The Jan. 15 protest will be held at the Self Enhancement, Inc. gymnasium in North Portland's Boise neighborhood. Doors open at 11 am.

The event will be attended by U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, Suzanne Bonamici and Kurt Schrader. Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith will also attend.

Related: How Donald Trump's policies threaten Portlanders.

The protest is part of a last-ditch effort to block the slashing of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, by a Republican-controlled Congress and President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump has listed the repeal of Obamacare among his top priorities, and Republicans voted late Thursday night for a "budget blueprint" that will allow them to repeal large portions of the healthcare act with a simple majority.

At the same time, Trump has said he supports keeping popular parts of Obamacare, including provisions that require insurance companies to accept people with pre-existing conditions and that allow kids until age 26 to be insured under their parents insurance.

A complete repeal is likely to leave millions of Americans without health insurance coverage.

On the Senate floor this week, Wyden decried the vote. "Health care should not just be for the healthy and wealthy," he said.

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