Nationwide bus tour makes second stop in Scranton to hold Congressmember accountable for reconciliation bill vote & grow the national tax justice movement

“We are not going to forget Congressman Bresnahan's broken vows and the impact it's had on the people of Pennsylvania,” said Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center

“Repeal the whole damn thing.” - Crowd chanting

Scranton, Pennsylvania (August 6, 2025) – Yesterday evening, Fair Share America, Unrig Our Economy, Pennsylvanians Together, and local partners held a “Broken Vows” town hall in Scranton, PA.

Over 150 residents gathered at the Green Ridge Club—a venue known for hosting weddings – to talk about how Rep. Bresnahan (PA-08) broke his vows to the people of his district by repeatedly voting to slash Medicaid, SNAP, and more, in order to give massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations.

“I have been an organizer for over 25 years, and the moment that we are in is something unlike anything that I have ever seen. People are coming out. They are raising their voices. They are mad as hell, regardless of who they voted for last November. They are mad as hell that our work is being sacrificed and stolen to give to the billionaires,” said Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Fair Share America.

The town hall is part of the extended “Stop the Billionaire Giveaways” national bus tour, which made its first stop in Scranton on June 23rd. The 45-foot bus wrapped in a giant trillion-dollar bill returned as part of the next phase of the coast-to-coast effort, now focused on accountability. The town hall in Scranton was the second of 2 stops in Pennsylvania following a community town hall in Harrisburg on Monday, August 4th.

To request video or photos from the event or to set up an interview, please contact ashley@fairshareusa.org.

Here are some highlights from the event:

“We are not going to forget Congressman Bresnahan's broken vows and the impact it's had on the people of Pennsylvania,” said Marc Stier, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center. “And we're going to remind each other from now through the next two years, until we get different representation.”

Dawn Simmons, an affordable housing advocate and realtor: “Many of us voted for the people like Rep. Bresnahan and for our ‘dear President,’ under the guise of promises made – promises to help our communities, promises to help further our education and our children – and none of that is happening.”

“The ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ does not exist,” said Jennifer Partyka, a MSN Registered Nurse and mom with an adult son who relies on Medicaid for necessary medical treatments. “People on Medicaid are not the parasite class as this horrible, out of touch administration has described them. They are your friends and your neighbors, and in this case, it's my son. I stand before you as a seasoned nurse and a patient advocate and a mother to remind you of this as well: the vast majority of people on Medicaid are children, and 60% of nursing home patients list Medicaid as their primary payer. Do you think nursing homes that are more and more corporate every single day of our lives are going to stay open when 60% of their payment source disappears?”

Omar De La Cruz, a youth and community organizer with Make The Road PA spoke to immigrants' contributions to their communities and the tremendous fear they face today: “One of the excuses that people tend to use is that we are here leeching up resources. But why don't you go to restaurants, to factories, to all these places where we are working, and we are showing how much we want to be here, and our voice will be taken. People are being taken up violently.”

Yesenia Rodriguez, a small business and immigrant advocate with Action Together NEPA added of the raids and cuts to basic services: “It’s not about who is legal and who is not. It’s about who doesn’t look like me.”

The event also asked members of the audience to raise questions and share their concerns:

• One local resident said of Rep Bresnahan: “It is your responsibility to show up and interact with us. Not one of these online, scripted kind of a town hall [that Rep Bresnahan plans to hold soon].”

• Another asked if automatic cuts to Medicare and Social Security as a result of this new law were possible. “Medicare and Social Security could come under cuts because of the deficit,” Stier explained. (Today, the Office of the Chief Actuary at the Social Security Administration released an analysis that shows Donald Trump’s OBBA makes Social Security insolvent a full year earlier.)

• A third member of the audience asked if people without Medicaid, particularly immigrants, will be turned away at hospitals. Stier responded, they absolutely could be.

• Finally, Jennifer, a local nurse, stood up to share the breaking news that HHS Secretary RFK, Jr. had just defunded research for life-saving vaccines, the kind used to produce the COVID vaccine.

The event concluded with the gathered crowd chanting their desire to have Congress “repeal the whole damn thing.”

Learn more about the “Stop the Billionaire Giveaways” bus tour online and on social media: @FairShare_USAon X and @FairShareAmerica (FB, IG, BS, Threads, TikTok). Contact ashley@fairshareusa.org to request more information or set up an interview.

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