Pittsburgh Featured in National Bus Tour to “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” in Congress

Pittsburgh leaders & workers stressed that cuts to local health and home care, food aid, and jobs are on horizon if Congress passes reconciliation bill

Pittsburgh, PA – Yesterday afternoon, the national “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” bus tour organized by Fair Share America and Unrig Our Economy made a stop in Pittsburgh to raise red flags about the local impacts of a massive reconciliation bill in the U.S. Congress that would transfer record levels of taxpayer dollars to the ultra-rich and corporations and cut funding for Medicaid and food assistance, which will put people in jeopardy and harm the local economy.

The event at Schenley Plaza, which featured former Western PA Congressman Conor Lamb, Allegheny County Councilperson Bethany Hallam, as well as local health care workers and organizers, took place just as U.S. Senate Republicans have re-doubled their efforts to bring the reconciliation bill to the Senate floor for a vote this week. Pittsburgh was the sixth and final Pennsylvania stop on the bus’s three-week, 14-state tour, which kicked off last weekend in Croton-on-Hudson, New York and will travel cross country and end in central California next month.

Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Fair Share America, described the urgency of speaking out against the bill:“It's hard to get our actual heads around what it would mean for 16 million people to lose health care. It's hard to get our heads around why our elected representatives would use our tax dollars that we pay in off of our work and labor to hand another check to the ultra-rich. It's hard to get our heads around what more we could possibly do to break through.”

Conor Lamb, attorney and former U.S. Representative, said that the bill would mean cuts to area health care jobs: “In almost every single one of our 67 counties, the largest employer is a hospital and often a nursing home. So let's talk about what a “blue-collar president” would do: These are the places where blue collar jobs are in Pennsylvania, and these are the places where blue collar jobs are being created. I'm talking about all the support staff in hospitals. I'm talking about the technicians, the physician assistants, the nurses, the custodians.”

Shana Coleman, a licensed practical nurse with Allegheny Valley Hospital warned about the ripple effects of Medicaid cuts: “The cuts would not just hurt Medicaid recipients…At Allegheny Valley Hospital, $8 million of our annual revenue comes from Medicaid. If people lose their health care in our area, our hospital wouldn't be compensated for their care, which would be a significant financial burden. That could mean a shortage of hospital beds, longer wait times for care – that means more than we are already dealing with now –and fewer services and layoffs. All other hospitals in the Pittsburgh region would face similar struggles.”

Erica Payne, a home care worker and member of SEIU Healthcare PA: “Without this funding, my client would not be able to get out of bed or even get to work. It is the lifeline that allows so many people to truly live…That is the power of home care…So when Dave McCormick and other Republican congress members threaten to slash Medicaid, they are not just cutting budgets. They are brutally undermining the dignity and freedom of my client and indeed, every single senior and person with disabilities who lies on this vital support.”

Miracle Jones, Director of Advocacy and Policy at 1Hood Media Academy: “People in Pennsylvania who are already living with disabilities, who are already in fear of their benefits being cut off now have another thing to worry about because of this legislation.”

Allegheny County Councilperson, At-Large, Bethany Hallam, and Ashley Comans, MomsRising both spoke forcefully about the deep unfairness of taking money from taxpayers to give to the rich – and the impact this bill would have on family, friends and neighbors.

Ann Sanders, Just Harvest: “These are the largest proposed cuts ever to food assistance in our nation's history,” she stressed, regarding the reconciliation bill’s proposed $230 billion in cuts to the SNAP program. “SNAP is the most effective anti-hunger program in the country, and it is under attack during a time when food costs and food insecurity are on the rise.”

Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center and an organizer of the PA tour shared the numbers on how the bill would impact Pennsylvanians: “The bill could lead to 570,000 people losing Medicaid or health care exchange credits, and over two people dying prematurely daily due to lack of affordable health care. Between 400,000 and 1 million people could lose SNAP benefits. The bill is projected to cost $2.8 trillion and benefit the top 1% with $55,000 in tax cuts, while the bottom 20% would receive $80.”

Event partners included: Keystone Progress Education Fund, Just Harvest, SEIU Healthcare PA, 1 Hood Media, MomsRising, For Our Future, Pennyslvanians Together, and the Pennsylvania Policy Center.

[VIDEO] Kristen Crowell explains why Fair Share America and Unrig Our Economy have launched the 14-state tour and how we’re building a national movement.

**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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