WATERLOO, IA (July 11, 2026) – One year after President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law, Waterloo residents, labor leaders, young people, caregivers, and elected officials gathered Saturday in Waterloo Park to describe how the law’s cuts to health care and other public programs are already hurting Iowa families, while delivering $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and large corporations.
Kimberly Karol, president of the Iowa Postal Workers Union, also spoke out about how the Trump administration and its allies are working to undermine and privatize the US Postal Service, an important public good in Iowa and across the country.
Hosted by Families Over Billionaires in partnership with Iowa Citizen Action Network, Main Street Alliance, Oxfam, and the American Postal Workers Union Iowa, the event was part of the nationwide Who Pays? Bus Tour.
For video or photos from the event, please contact [email protected].
EXERPTS
Sue Dinsdale, executive director of the Iowa Citizen Action Network: “These tax cuts are not contributing to our nation. In fact, they’re making our economy tepid. They’re helping our state fail to rise to the moment. Our response to high and rising cancer rates is inadequate. Schools are cutting programs, and probably one of the most draconian things that is happening is the closing of rural hospitals and clinics.”
Kimberly Karol, president of the Iowa Postal Workers: “The postal service is not broken; it has become a prisoner of corporate greed and legislative indifference…” She pointed to the ways in which the Trump administration and the wealthy are attacking the Postal Service in order to destroy public confidence and privatize the institution.
Ceonte Brown, a community activist and young person who relies on Social Security Disability Insurance and Medicaid described in painful detail the difficulty of balancing his health issues, with federal work and other bureaucratic requirements. He says he is forced to live as a member of the “working poor.”
Mickey Rottinghaus, an activist and family caregiver, spoke forcefully about this administration’s threats to our rights, dignity, and way of life.
Kristen Crowell, executive director of Families Over Billionaires: “This administration has gone too far; the greed is out of control. It’s time for us to take it all back…Congresswoman Hinson made that choice to make Iowans sicker, hungrier, and poorer.”
State Senator Liz Bennett (39th District), an Oxfam Sisters on the Planet Ambassador:
“The system was already tilted towards the wealthy and well connected, and instead of fixing it, they rigged it even further, rewarding billionaires and corporate interests while asking working families to sacrifice even more… This is the wealthiest nation in the world and everyone deserves to have a fair shot – and I know we can make that happen.”
Waterloo is the 13th stop on the 17-stop nationwide tour that kicked off June 30th in Portland, Maine and concludes on July 16th in Tucson, Arizona. It is the first of two stops in Iowa, as the bus will head to Davenport immediately following the Waterloo visit.
Who Pays? bus tour national partners include: GenZ For Change, Protect Our Care, Committee to Protect Health Care, National Women’s Law Center, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, DemCast USA, National Nurses United, Oxfam, Unrig Our Economy, Americans for Tax Fairness and State Revenue Alliance.
Also see the latest op-ed from Kristen Crowell on Heartland Signal: “OP-ED: Billionaires got a break. The rest of us got the bill.”
