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The Virginian-Pilot editorial board is absolutely torching vulnerable Republicans Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman after they spent weeks lying to their constituents that they would not vote to cut Medicaid – only to turn around and cast the deciding votes to pass the largest cuts to Medicaid in history.
The local editorial board writes that Kiggans and Wittman “folded,” “sold out their constituents,” and didn’t have “the courage to stand up to President Donald Trump or buck Republican leadership to do what was right.”
The gut punch? The paper says Kiggans and Wittman’s flip-flop “would be a betrayal were it not so predictable” – and reminds Virginians that their shameful vote to rip health insurance and food assistance from their constituents “should not be forgotten.”
Reminder: Both Kiggans and Wittman signed onto a letter that falsely claimed they would draw a “red line on Medicaid cuts” – only to turn around and vote for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history.
Read the blistering editorial for yourself:
The Virginian-Pilot: Editorial: In the end, Reps. Kiggans and Wittman sold out their constituents
By the Editorial Board
May 22, 2025
- As the sweeping Republican spending bill lurched its way through the U.S. House in recent weeks, members of Virginia’s congressional delegation promised they would oppose those sections that made life more difficult for commonwealth residents or which imperiled our economic future.
- Yet when push came to shove — when residents of Hampton Roads really needed the elected representatives to defend their interests — U.S. Reps. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman folded. On Thursday morning, they voted with their party and with the president instead of with the people they swore to serve.
- It would be a betrayal were it not so predictable. For all the noise each made about fighting against the most onerous provisions of the bill — and there are many — neither had the courage to stand up to President Donald Trump or buck Republican leadership to do what was right.
- The embarrassingly named “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” eked its way out of the House by a 215-214 vote following weeks of debate about legislation that would make radical changes to federal operations and numerous programs relied on by millions of Americans.
- While extending the tax cuts and increasing the standard dedication will help most American households, the majority of the benefits accrue to the wealthiest taxpayers — as happened as a result of the original legislation eight years ago.
- Republican leaders have railed about the size of the federal debt, particularly while Joe Biden was president, and argued that a failure to address that ballooning number would bring economic ruin. But an estimate of the bill’s total cost conducted by the Congressional Budget Office concluded it would add $3.1 trillion to the debt. So much for fiscal responsibility.
- And how do Republicans propose to offset some of the massive cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts and spending more on the border and on defense? By cutting programs and services to the poor and shifting more of the cost burden for assistance programs to the states, of course.
- The CBO estimates that cuts to Medicaid and changes to the Affordable Care Act included in the bill will threaten the health care coverage of at least 8.6 million Americans, including about 262,000 Virginians. The bill also endangers the viability of hospitals and nursing homes, primarily in rural areas, which will be further squeezed after Gov. Glenn Youngkin this month cut $10 million from Medicaid reimbursements to nursing homes.
- Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps provide food for the poorest Americans, would affect an estimated 11 million Americans, including 204,000 Virginians. Some 6,000 people in the 2nd Congressional District and 2,000 in the 1st District would lose SNAP benefits, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.
- The damage of the SNAP cuts could be worse depending on how new rules included in the bill are interpreted, but commonwealth lawmakers will be faced with the unwelcome proposition of massively increasing the state’s share of those costs or slashing coverage to thousands of low-income Virginians, including children.
- And what about those laws which have helped the promising clean-energy economy in Hampton Roads? Gutted and effectively gone. Kiggans and Wittman, to their credit, both advocated for keeping these tax credits and other provisions that are creating jobs, revenue and opportunity here. But in the end, both voted for a bill that will stifle growth and ultimately imperil our region’s future.
- The bill now moves on to the Senate, where it will only need a simple majority to become law. This was the opportunity for our lawmakers to stand up for Hampton Roads and halt legislation that will cause deep and lasting harm to thousands of area residents. That they failed to do so should not be forgotten.
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