Local leaders, workers, and parents called out Rep. Mike Lawler’s choice to give billionaires a massive tax break and stick everyday Americans with the bill.

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, New York (July 1, 2026) – Today Families Over Billionaires joined local partners, including Empire State Voices, CWA Local 1103, and SEIU 1199 to bring the Who Pays? Bus Tour to Westchester County. Local residents and leaders shared stories about the real-world consequences of President Trump and Rep. Mike Lawler’s choice to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA). Signed into law one year ago this Saturday, the law delivered $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and large corporations and slashed programs that help working families like Medicaid and SNAP.

Croton-on-Hudson was the third stop on the 17-stop nationwide tour, which started in Portland, ME on June 30th. The tour will hit 13 states before ending on July 16th in Tucson, Arizona. At every stop, local voices and leaders tell the story behind the headlines. Learn more here.

Media who would like video or photos from the event, or an interview with one of the speakers please email [email protected].

EXCERPTS FROM CROTON-ON-HUDSON

State Senator Pete Harckham: “It’s not a good day today. 450,000 people lost their health coverage in New York State today because Mike Lawler and Donald Trump thought it was more appropriate to give a tax cut to billionaires today. 450,000 New Yorkers have lost their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cards because Donald Trump and Mike Lawler thought it was more appropriate to give massive tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations in America, corporations that have a larger GDP than most nations, many of them pay zero federal tax.”

Assemblymember Dana Levenberg: “As we watch people not have coverage for their health insurance, not be able to put food on the table for their families, we know something has got to give. And what has to give is Congress…. In my 95th Assembly District alone – which we are in right now here in Croton – we’re getting calls daily about people losing their health insurance. We are getting calls daily about people losing their SNAP benefits – people who re-certified and are eligible, but they’re still just throwing them off. We need to change that. That ain’t right. We are not going to break the backs of New Yorkers for the rich.”

Mayor Brian Pugh, Croton-on-Hudson: “On what is among the hottest days of the year, but sadly, perhaps one of the coolest summers for the rest of our lives, I think that might be a good opportunity to briefly revive [the climate change conversation]. H.R. 1, in addition to cutting Medicaid and many other vital programs also repealed most of the investment tax credits for solar energy and other forms of renewable power…. There’s no upside to this. This is all done again to benefit a handful of very wealthy individuals and corporations. So, it’s on us to fix that.”

Cait Conley, combat veteran and national security expert: “When we look at the harm that this administration has done to working families across the country, across this district, it has been enabled by cowards in Congress like Mike Lawler. He is the reason HR 1 passed last year. … We have families working two jobs and still can’t pay the bills, seniors on fixed incomes telling you about the trade-offs between paying for their groceries or paying for their electricity. We have families who are absolutely getting squashed by the cost of living, that are going out there and having to make trade-offs between filling up their gas tank to get to work or filling up their grocery cart to feed their families.”

Lindsey Crowder, OxFam Sisters on the Planet Ambassador: “Trump’s inequality-fueling tax handouts are intensifying our ongoing affordability crisis. People like me that work full time should be able to afford health care. And in this day and age, we can’t. This Administration continues to sacrifice the well-being of ordinary Americans so that they can further empower and enrich billionaires.”

Courtney Fields, Executive Director of Empire State Voices: “Since Donald Trump was reelected, the wealth of New York billionaires has grown by nearly 89 billion dollars. At the very same time, the 2025 Republican tax law puts nearly 500,000 New Yorkers at risk of losing their health coverage through cuts to Medicaid and other essential programs. That’s not a shared sacrifice. That’s a rigged system. … We don’t have to choose between affordable health care, good schools, safe communities and a fair system. We can have all of those things, if everyone pays their fair share…. It’s time for billionaires to pay their fair share and to hold lawmakers who vote for failed policies like the Republican tax law accountable.”

Melita Corselli, resident of North Salem and mom to a son who relies on Medicaid: “A few years ago, despite being employed, I experienced homelessness with my three children. We spent nearly two months in the shelter before finding stable housing. …. My family was able to rebuild because social safety net programs were there when we needed them. Every family facing a crisis deserves the same…. I don’t think families like mine should have to worry about losing health care so billionaires can pay less in taxes.”

Maurice Larry, healthcare worker and member of SEIU 1199: “Health care is in danger, it’s been in danger for a long time, but with this big, ugly law it’s devastated right now. The devastation to the health care in Rockland County alone, you could be losing at least four of your local facilities. Montifiore Nyack Hospital. Good Samaritan Hospital…. So what I’m saying to Mike Lawler is: you gotta do better.”

Jack Petocz, Gen Z for Change: “Young people can’t afford rent. They can’t afford groceries. They can’t afford gas. Can’t afford to put themselves through school. Can’t afford to just survive in the richest country in the history of the world…. So when I watched the largest wealth transfer to billionaires in a generation happened right in front of us, I don’t get frustrated. I get angry. I feel my parents’ wrath and exhaustion fighting to keep our family alive. I feel my school teacher digging into her own pockets just to buy pencils and paper for our classroom. I feel every single young person, every single person across this country who is not asking for a handout. They are just asking to live. It is unconscionable and it is the fight that is going to define my generation.”

Who Pays? bus tour national partners include: Gen Z For Change, Protect Our Care, National Women’s Law Center, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, DemCast USA, National Nurses United, Unrig Our Economy, Americans for Tax Fairness

Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Families Over Billionaires: “What I’ve seen in the last year is all of us standing together to provide food for our neighbors, to give rides to our immigrant neighbors while ICE is attacking our communities. We have made sure that no one is going to die on our watch [because of OBBBA cuts] …. So I have one message to the billionaire class and to Congressman Mike Lawler and every other Republican that sided with Donald Trump and couldn’t grow a spine to stand up for their constituents: People understand that if you side with the billionaire class, you are throwing us all under the bus.”