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Seven people were arrested after they staged a sit-in protest over what organizers called “political attacks on life-saving HIV prevention and treatment programs” in the office of US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on September 11, Politico reported.

The action, organized by Housing Works and Health GAP, called on Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR, a program to combat HIV-AIDS.

“PEPFAR has saved millions of lives. It is criminal for some members of Congress to treat it as a political football,” said Charles King, CEO of Housing Works, who was arrested, in a statement by Health Gap.

“AIDS isn’t over until it’s over for everyone. PEPFAR has been essential to helping people in developing countries flatten the curve of HIV transmission. The United States has committed to the international goal of ending AIDS by 2030, and we cannot do that if PEPFAR is threatened.”

“House Republicans are playing political games with the lives of countless adults, children, and newborns with HIV and most affected by HIV across the globe and here in the US,” said Asia Russell, executive director of Health GAP, a global HIV advocacy organization, in the same statement.

“Extremists in the House have sunk to a new low. Never in the twenty-year history of PEPFAR have lawmakers pulled such outrageous stunts. We demand a five-year reauthorization of PEPFAR in its current form, and full funding for HIV treatment and prevention programs in the US,” Russell said. Credit: Seth Pollack/Housing Works via Storyful