By Mary Miller
HOULTON, Maine — The severe local impacts of proposed federal budget cuts was the message of about 30 protesters in Houlton on Saturday, May 17. A banner read “Billionaires Get Breaks, While Aroostook Goes Broke” and signs emphasizing funding losses to food programs, education, health care and rural development were on full display.
“In the end all politics are local,” said rally participant Christy Fitzpatrick. “We want people to see the many negative impacts on all of us here in The County if our politicians don’t stand up for us and stop this.”
From Cary Library to Houlton Regional Hospital, Medicaid to S.N.A.P. benefits, protesters lifted up programs and institutions whose funding could be endangered by current administration and congressional budget proposals. “Cutting Taxes for Billionaires while Starving Kids and Older People is Just Plain Wrong” one sign stated.
The rally, one of several recently held in Houlton, also emphasized the necessity to protect civil liberties and the Constitution. Some participants lifted up immigrant rights and protested the war in Gaza.
“I brought the U.S. flag to show that I’m standing out there out of a sense of love for America,” protester Mary Beth DiMarco said. She emphasized her “civic duty as the Constitution is being trampled and the budget being considered takes services away from people in Aroostook County to give more to the extremely wealthy. That’s not what America is about.”
The Canadian flag was flown at this and other rallies, “to show support for our neighbors as a sovereign nation,” DiMarco said. The Ukrainian flag has also been flown at previous rallies.
Participants in the rally are planning to join other protests in the coming weeks, and to hold a “No Kings Day” rally on June 14. All are welcome to participate.
