Look Out for the ‘Stop the Billionaire Giveaway’ Bus Tour

As the big, ugly GOP budget bill moves through Congress, advocates for a fair economy are hitting the road. Two organizations — Fair Share America and Unrig Our Economy — are bringing experts and stakeholders on a “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” bus tour to publicize the high stakes in this budget debate. After a kick-off on June 21, the bus will travel to 14 states, from New York to California, to rally the public against a bill that would do more to increase inequality than any other single piece of legislation in U.S. history.

To learn more about the strategy behind the tour, we spoke to Kristen Crowell, executive director of Fair Share America, who plans to be on the bus for the whole 4,000 miles.

Inequality.org: This is a tough organizing environment, with Republicans in control of the Senate, the House, and the White House. How will you give people hope about the chances of influencing this budget debate?

We’ve seen firsthand that once people learn what is in this harmful tax and budget bill, they strongly oppose it. When they turn out and demonstrate their opposition, or call or write their member of Congress, that makes a difference.

For each stop on our bus tour, we have worked with state and local partners to organize rallies, a roundtable, or a similar public event where people can speak out, share their stories, and take part in a growing national movement to oppose this bill and advocate for fair budgets that pay for the things we need and don’t give trillions of our tax dollars away to the billionaire class.

We can still stop this bill.

Inequality.org: Tell us more about the people you’ve already heard from in various states. What are they saying?

Over the past couple of months, I’ve had the privilege of speaking to thousands of people at town hall meetings, while knocking on doors, and while hosting tele-town hall meetings where over 200,000 people joined our lines to hear about what is happening in Washington.

People are angry and afraid about losing the lifelines they and their families depend on and they are mobilizing to make sure their voices of opposition are heard. In many communities, their own GOP member of Congress won’t meet with them, which is infuriating. This is one of the reasons Fair Share America has created public forums for people to show up, learn the truth, and speak out. That’s what we’re continuing to do this summer with the bus tour and beyond.

Inequality.org: We’ve seen the polling on both sides. Some of the tax provisions like “no taxes on tips” are pretty popular. How are you getting the message across that this bill would not benefit most Americans?

Public polling has been consistent. Nearly 80 percent of the public is opposed to this bill once they learn about what’s in it. We see this mirrored in our canvassing efforts as well. The opposition even crosses the political spectrum. Over 50 percent of people who voted for Trump a mere eight months ago are opposed to the tax and budget plans in this bill. While there may be support for some individual provisions, when presented with the whole package, voters understand that these giveaways are skewed to the ultra-wealthy and benefit working people very little.

There’s also a ton in this bill that working people would lose: When people realize that nearly 16 million people would lose health care coverage their opposition strengthens even further. It is crystal clear, the public largely does not support this budget and will not be bought off with small crumbs while the ultra-rich would have huge financial gains.

Inequality.org: Many states are finalizing their own budgets this month. How can states expect the reconciliation bill to impact their budgets?

The GOP reconciliation bill would shift massive costs onto states in several ways that would blow a hole in carefully crafted state budgets. It includes historic new cost-sharing rules that would force states to cover the costs for SNAP. It imposes costly and burdensome paperwork requirements on states and people for Medicaid, significantly reducing the federal funding for the key health care program.

In addition to the direct loss of federal funding to the states, the bill also blocks states from raising their own funds for essential programs, targeting provider taxes which fund Medicaid and undercutting the municipal bond market which funds local schools, hospitals, and infrastructure projects. In short, the GOP budget blows a hole in states’ budgets and ties their hands on key issues, just to fund $1.1 trillion in tax handouts to the rich.

States will either have to slash services or raise local taxes to make up the loss in federal funds. Many are already planning for special legislative sessions should this harmful GOP Budget pass.

Inequality.org: You’re planning to be on the bus for the full three weeks of the tour. What’s one tip you can share about how to keep up your energy over all those miles? 

Over the past several months, being with and among the American public as Fair Share America and our local partners have held events around the country has been one of the greatest privileges of my organizing career (you can read more about Kristen’s organizing background here).

Hitting the road this summer and getting to be with people who are scared and hurting but doing something powerful together to make change keeps me going. Several of my children will also be joining me on the bus during this tour and I want to show them a strong example of what it means to stand up for our values. I’ve been working in the tax justice space for a long time and look forward to seeing old friends and new allies along the route. It truly will be one of the greatest months of my life. My love of strong, black coffee doesn’t hurt!

Learn more and sign up for updates about the “Stop the Billionaire Giveaway” bus tour.