FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2025
Contact: Kirstin Snow, Communications Director, snow@pennpolicy.org
“Broken Vows Town Hall” Held in Scranton on Impact of Rep. Bresnahan’s Votes for the Big Ugly Law
Coast-to-coast national bus tour extends for accountability phase, adding 7 town halls on local impacts + how fairer taxes could fund priorities that help all people (not just billionaires) thrive
SCRANTON, PA — On Tuesday, August 5, at 6:00 p.m. ET, Fair Share America, Unrig Our Economy, the Pennsylvania Policy Center’s Pennsylvanians Together campaign, and local partners held a “Broken Vows” town hall in Scranton.
Community members and local leaders gathered at the Green Ridge Club—a venue known for hosting weddings—to talk about how Rep. Bresnahan broke his promises to the people of his district by repeatedly voting to slash Medicaid and SNAP to give more tax breaks to billionaires and corporations.
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 will return as part of the next phase of the coast-to-coast effort, now focused on accountability and holding evening town halls in each community.
WHO: Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Fair Share America
Partners:
Pennsylvanians Together, Pennsylvanians Policy Center, Planned Parenthood PA, Action Together NEPA, Commonwealth Communications, For Our Future, 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, including Rep. Bresnahan, 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.”
Jennifer K. Graham Partyka: “I have a son who suffers with a life threatening, chronic illness while working a full time job. People on Medicaid are not “the parasite class” as this horrible, out of touch administration has described them. They are your friends and neighbors. In this case, it’s my son.”
Dawn Simmons: “Here in Luzerne County, too many families are struggling with rising housing costs, and aging infrastructure. I’ve lived the struggles of housing insecurity as a single mother of three. Accessible affordable housing is becoming more unreachable not just here in NEPA but across Pennsylvania and the Big Ugly Bill makes it worse.”
Yesenia Rodriguez: “Families in our region — no matter what they look like or where they come from — are struggling to cover their medical bills, put food on their tables and protect their loved ones. As the Big Ugly Bill goes into effect, it will have a devastating impact in our community.”
Learn more about the Stop the Billionaire Giveaway Bus Tour at bus.fairshareusa.org.
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