On June 25th, 2009, thousands of Doctors, Nurses, Union members and other Health Care Reform activists made their presence known outside the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.  Here's a report from our friends at the Washington Metro CLC:

HUGE CROWD DEMANDS HEALTH CARE NOW: The debate over healthcare hit the streets yesterday when a crowd of nearly 10,000 rocked the U.S. Capitol with chants of “We Want Healthcare” to the tune of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” The midday sun blazed overhead and speakers called for healthcare reform as the colorful sea of activists swamped Upper Senate Park in one of the biggest and liveliest labor demonstrations in years, organized by Health Care for America Now, a broad-based labor-community coalition. "This is our year!" thundered AFSCME President Gerry McEntee and the sense of urgency was palpable in the crowd that had gathered from up and down the East Coast and out into the Midwestern states, rolling in on buses all morning. “With this health care system, if you don’t have a job, you’re gonna die,” said Marisol Marte, chairperson of ACORN in the South Bronx, which holds the dubious distinction of having the highest asthma rate in the nation. Susie Taylor, a small business owner in Washington, told the crowd how she’d been forced to stop paying for her employees’ health insurance when healthcare premiums skyrocketed. “This is not how we want to run our business or treat people who work for us,” she said. “There is a whole undercurrent of people you don’t know about,” said Reverend Andrew Stephens of Nashville. “I’m a pastor, I know them.  The health care forms are more complicated in places that need more help; we’re going to sick workplaces and sick schools.” Amid the placards saying “No Health Care Profiteers” and “Everybody In Nobody Out,” doctors’ white coats gleamed in the sunlight. “We stand in solidarity with our own patients. We have their back,” said a passionate Dr. Lydia Vaias, founder of the 215,000-member National Physicians Alliance, disputing the American Medical Association’s (AMA) claim to speak for all doctors when it opposes the proposed government-sponsored health care plan. After rousing speeches from workers, small business owners, political leaders and union leaders, thousands of the fired-up activists marched on the Capitol to meet with their elected representatives to demand health care reform.  
- report by Julia Shindel; photos by Adam Wright

LIVE FROM THE HEALTH CARE REFORM RALLY: Seth Michaels posted live reports Thursday via Twitter from the massive health care reform rally and lobby day on the AFL-CIO Now Blog. Here are highlights:

• Working America represents at hc rally. 
• The rally starts to convene beneath the Capitol Dome.
• Looks like a lot of workers want real health care reform...
• APWU members joining the crowd in our fight for real health care reform.
• Sen. Schumer points to Capitol: "we can't do this alone. We need to do this together. Hold everybody in that building's feet to the fire".
• We're hearing from hc consumers, faith leaders, sm business owners hurt by hc costs.
• Sen. Schumer says "time for greatest country in the world to have greatest healthcare in the world".
• Rep. Schwartz: health care "has always been a moral responsibility-but it's increasingly an economic imperative".
• AFT members at the rally.
• Sen. Sherrod Brown: "special interests, health ins industry won't hijack this process" "must, will have strong public option".
• Larry Cohen of CWA: "a united movement to change our country, a united movement for health care for all" crowd loves it.
• Rep. Becerra: "can we make sure that you and I, whether rich or poor, can get affordable hc for our children and loved ones? Yes we can!".
• Sen. Menendez: "no one should have to choose between medicine and food".
• AFSCME Pres. McEntee: "this is our year!".
• AFSCME members watch as Pres. McEntee speaks.
• Nearly 10,000 people are here - a big, enthusiastic crowd filling the entire park.
• AFLCIO exec VP Holt Baker: "HC w/o cost control will not work. HC w/o a quality public option to lower costs is unacceptable".
• A sea of red CWA t-shirts.
• RT @SenSherrodBrown Check out Sen. Brown's speech at today's HCAN rally -- thousands gathered to fight for H/C reform.
• Rep. Sestak explains that he got into politics to make sure everyone had health care like him.
• Sen. Specter agrees, health care is a right.
  photos: Adam Wright