BETHLEHEM, Pa. — As the temperature climbed into the mid 90s Monday morning, more than 60 activists, demonstrators and grassroots organizers looked to turn up the heat on Congress over President Donald Trump's signature tax and spending plan.
The "Stop the Billionaire Giveaway" national bus tour stopped for about an hour at Payrow Plaza, where attendees denounced federal Republicans over their support of the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The protest, organized by the left-leaning nonprofits Fair Share America and Pennsylvania Policy Center, started its 14-state trip in Westchester County, N.Y., on Saturday and is expected to end in Los Angeles next month.
The One Big Beautiful Bill includes many of Trump's popular campaign pledges, including provisions that would bolster border security and end taxes on tips and overtime pay for most Americans.
However, the bill would also slash access to Medicaid and SNAP benefits that serve as a vital lifeline for millions of America's poorest people in order to partially pay for tax cuts that primarily benefit wealthy Americans.
The bill passed by the House would also raise the national deficit by $3.8 trillion, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
"I find that incredibly insulting because having Medicaid was not just about having health care for me. It was about dignity."Kristin Volchansky, Action Together NEPA
Marc Stier, executive director of the Pennsylvania Policy Center, said many Americans aren't familiar with the contents of the sprawling bill. However, once they're aware of all of its provisions, it becomes widely unpopular, he said. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found 53% of Americans oppose the bill while just 27% support it.
"Our goal with this event and with the 79 events that we've done since January all over the state is to let people know what those top lines about the bill are. Because once they hear them, they oppose them," Stier said.
Bus as a backdrop
To highlight what's at stake, multiple speakers discussed their personal experiences with Medicaid. As the group spoke about how Medicaid allowed them to care for their sick loved ones or funded operations at nursing homes, others fanned themselves with protest signs and organizers handed out chilled water bottles.
Kristin Volchansky, advocacy director for the nonprofit Action Together NEPA, recounted how she was diagnosed with a genetic immune deficiency while a student at Lehigh University.
Her monthly treatments cost $39,000 without insurance, she said. After exhausting other options, she qualified for Medicaid due to the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, she said.
That coverage would disappear under the bill, which would undo the expansion. By supporting the tax bill, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., were telling Volchansky and millions like her that they were undeserving, she said.
"I find that incredibly insulting because having Medicaid was not just about having health care for me. It was about dignity. Medicaid is the reason I was able to get healthy again. It was the reason I didn't have to stop my medical treatments, the reason I was able to volunteer again and eventually go back to work," she said.
In a previous interview with LehighValleyNews.com, Mackenzie defended his support of the bill. The bill would create new tax cuts for working families and seniors while preserving what he called traditional Medicaid recipients. Most of the people losing Medicaid are due to new work requirements on able-bodied adults, he noted.
"The value of work has dignity. We shouldn't be saying that a work requirement is a negative thing," he said.
Senate consideration
The U.S. Senate is currently debating the One Big Beautiful Bill, which could go up for a vote in the near future. While the House passed legislation that would eliminate coverage for 10.6 million people — mostly through work requirements — the Senate is debating other changes that could negatively effect how states pay for their portions of Medicaid programs.
Kristen Crosswell, executive director of Fair Share America, acknowledged that Republicans have the numbers on paper to pass the legislation. Still, it is important for Americans to voice their dissent and make sure their representatives know their votes will have both real-life and political consequences, she said.
She held out hope that some senators may refuse to back the bill, noting the House version passed by just a single vote.
"This is a populist movement of folks that is growing," she said. "There are voters who are turning out who just a mere eight months ago voted for Donald Trump that are fired up and angry about giving another giveaway of billions and trillions of dollars of our hard earned tax dollars to fund checks to billionaires."
