Bethlehem Hosted National Bus Tour to “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” in Congress

Fair Share America + Pennsylvanians Together Brought the 14-State, National Campaign to Bethlehem to Warn About the Harmful Impacts of the GOP’s Federal Budget + Tax Bil

Former Republican community member at the event: “Unfortunately, we just don't see leadership on that side anymore that represents who we are.”

Bethlehem, PA – On Monday, June 23rd, members of the Bethlehem community joined the national “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” bus tour organized by Fair Share America and Unrig Our Economy to discuss the local impacts of a massive reconciliation bill in Congress that would transfer record levels of taxpayer dollars to the ultra-rich and corporations and cut social safety nets that people rely on, like Medicaid and food assistance, to pay for it.

The “Community Conversation,” held outside at Bethlehem’s Payrow Plaza, took place just as U.S. Senate Republicanshave re-doubled their efforts to bring the reconciliation bill to the Senate floor for a vote this week. Bethlehem was the third Pennsylvania stop on the bus’s three-week, 14-state tour, which kicked off this weekend in Croton-on-Hudson, New York and will travel cross country and end in central California next month.

Fair Share America Executive Director Kristen Crowell spoke about what’s happening in Washington: “We're watching our government and this administration find billions and millions of dollars to air strike Iran, while at the very same time, a bill could come to the Senate floor as early as the next several days, ripping trillions of dollars of our hard earned tax dollars to fund another billionaire giveaway…Fair Share America is bringing this bus tour all across the country to make sure that We, The People, have a seat at the table.”

Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Penn Policy Center and an organizer of our PA events: “There have been tax cuts that hurt working people and help rich people before. There have been attempts to cut Medicaid, SNAP, other social safety net programs before. But this bill is extraordinary. It is the single biggest redistribution from people at the bottom and the middle to the very top that has ever happened in United States history…”

Kristin Volchansky with Action Together NEPA spoke about how Medicaid has given her and many others the dignity they deserve: “I've seen a lot of reporting in the news recently from Representative MacKenzie as well as Senator McCormick, talking about people who are ‘deserving’ versus those of us who are ‘undeserving,’ often referring to the Medicaid expansion patients like myself as those who are ‘undeserving’ of care. I find that incredibly insulting, because having Medicaid was not just about health care. For me, it was about dignity. Medicaid is the reason that I was able to get healthy again.”

Autumn Gravier, an advocate with Planned Parenthood PA, who relied on Medicaid in order to take care of her father during his fight with terminal cancer: “There are thousands more caregivers, single parents, families blindsided by tragedy, and Medicaid is a thread holding us together. When life unravels, let's strengthen that thread, not tear it apart, because someday it could be you or someone you love hanging on to it. I never imagined I would need Medicaid, but when life blindsided us, it was the only thing that kept me standing to anyone who would dare take that lifeline away, I ask you, who will be there when It's your family? Because this can happen to anyone.”

Lynn Weidner, a home care worker with SEIU Healthcare PA whose family has turned away from Trump and the GOP because of their plans to cut social safety net programs: “I grew up in a conservative Christian family, and we were staunch Republicans. My dad loved Bill O'Reilly and Fox News. But when the current administration, you know, started making their little waves, our family took a look at it and completely rejected all of it. And so we are all now registered Democrats. Unfortunately, we just don't see leadership on that side anymore that represents who we are.” 

Jane Cook with Indivisible Lehigh Valley Bethlehem and the Monocacy Farm Project, which supplies fresh produce to area food pantries: “With the bill that is now before the Senate, it looks like 3 million families and kids will lose food assistance through the SNAP program… Those same people who are dependent on that for their daily food now will not be able to go to food pantries and get produce because it's been cut.”

“We have thousands of vulnerable residents in the Lehigh Valley who are so terrified to go out of their homes and buy food… they are needing help,” stressed Linda Smith, a veterans’ advocate from Indivisible Lehigh Valley Bethlehem.

The Community Conversation in Bethlehem was moderated by Maura Quint of Unrig Our Economy.

To request video, including b-roll, or photos from the event or to set up an interview, please contact Ashley@fairshareusa.org or Kristin@fairshareusa.org. 

**The full swing through Pennsylvania includes 6 stops: 

Sunday, June 22

Monday, June 23

Tuesday, June 24

Follow the “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” bus online and on social media: @FairShare_USA on X and @FairShareAmerica (FB, IG, BS, Threads).

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