PRESS RELEASE
August 4, 2025
Contact: Kirstin Snow, snow@pennpolicy.org
Community Town Hall Bus Tour Stops in Harrisburg!
Coast-to-coast national bus tour extends for accountability phase of the Big ‘Beautiful’ Bill, adding 7 town halls on local impacts + how fairer taxes could fund priorities that help all people (not just billionaires) thrive
HARRISBURG, PA — On Monday, August 4, at 6:00 p.m. ET, Fair Share America, Unrig Our Economy, Pennsylvania Policy Center’s Pennsylvanians Together campaign, lawmakers and local partners held a community town hall in Harrisburg on the local impact of the new budget + tax law, and how a fair tax system could fund priorities that help all people (not just billionaires) thrive.
The town hall is part of the extended “Stop the Billionaire Giveaways” national bus tour, which made its first stop in Harrisburg on June 24th. The 45-foot bus wrapped in a giant trillion-dollar bill will return to Harrisburg as part of the next phase of the coast-to-coast effort, now focused on accountability.
WHO: Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Fair Share America: Senator Patty Kim; Partners Pennsylvanians Together, Pennsylvanians Policy Center, 50501, OnePA, Northern Dauphin Democracy Coalition, Workforce PA, Planned Parenthood PA, PA10th District Network, Commonwealth Communications, For Our Future, and MomsRising; local leaders, impacted individuals, and more.
QUOTES:
“The budget reconciliation law didn’t just make life harder for millions of families; it made it clear that too many elected officials aren’t standing up for the everyday Americans they’re supposed to represent. We’re going town to town to say loud and clear: our tax dollars should go to the things that help all of us thrive — health care, food assistance, public schools, and clean energy — not to billionaire handouts,” said Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Fair Share America. “It’s time to stop the billionaire giveaways.”
Melissa Reed, Planned Parenthood Keystone “Defunding Planned Parenthood will be devastating to patients and the country’s already-broken health care system. More than half of Planned Parenthood patients are covered by Medicaid for their essential health care services. Cancers will go undetected, STIs will go untreated, and patients won’t get the birth control they need to plan their families and futures”
Andrea Grove Musselman, Elementary Coffee Co. “Everyday people and small/micro businesses are the core of our nation and its future. We shouldn’tbe the ones paying the cost of a national budget that does not represent our needs and values. Giving tax breaks to millionaires while cutting key and vital services for folx that are the backbone of society will have long and devastating consequences for the health and success of all of us.”
Tyler Hartl, OnePA Youth Activist “At a time when funding vital social services, accessible education, and the rights of all people are increasingly threatened, it becomes ever more important that we unify across our communities. We must bridge our divides or risk being picked off until there’s no one left to fight. Our most vulnerable need us.”
Rep. Justin Fleming “There is no doubt that the budget reconciliation bill will hurt thousands of Pennsylvania families. Instead of helping working families this bill will make it harder for folks to get healthcare and food assistance while once again enriching millionaires and billionaires, and it’s unacceptable.”
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