Sears keeps claiming she can use Virginia’s “rainy day” reserve to cover the Medicaid cuts in the Trump tax bill she backed, but the math doesn’t add up

VIRGINIA – New reporting from Cville Right Now details how it’s mathematically impossible for Winsome Earle-Sears to use Virginia’s “rainy day” reserve to cover the Medicaid cuts in the Trump tax bill she backed. In response to Sears’ lie, State Senator Creigh Deeds, member of the state Senate Finance Committee, said: 
 
“Well, No. 1, it’s not going to be enough money. There’s no way we can make up the Medicaid cuts with the rainy-day fund because it’s not sufficient. No. 2, there are real constitution limits on its continued use. You use it one time for a rainy day. You don’t use it every year. We need a long-term solution.”
 
Cville Right Now: Virginia Democrats hone in on cost of expected Medicaid cuts 

• Virginia Democrats are calling out comments made by Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears in which Earle-Sears, the current lieutenant governor, appeared to suggest Virginia could cover the cost of cuts to Medicaid from the Commonwealth’s so-called ‘rainy-day fund.’
• “I saw a suggestion that the Lt. Governor made during a trip to southwest Virginia that you could use the rainy-day fund to make up the Medicaid cuts,” Sen. Creigh Deeds said while campaigning for Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger in Charlottesville last week. “Well, No. 1, it’s not going to be enough money. There’s no way we can make up the Medicaid cuts with the rainy-day fund because it’s not sufficient. No. 2, there are real constitution limits on its continued use. You use it one time for a rainy day. You don’t use it every year. We need a long-term solution.”
• Deeds isn’t alone. Virginia Democrats were scheduled to release a new digital ad Monday morning criticizing Earle-Sears position on the bill’s impact on Virginia healthcare, according to a source.
• The 36-second spot opens with Earle-Sears’ comments about President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill saying, “The bill, as you know now, does so many great things.”
• From there, a narrator responds, “Hundreds of thousands of Virginians will lose health care. That’s wrong. Health costs will go up for everyone else. Rural hospitals could close. That’s wrong.”
• Most experts predict the impact to hit Virginians after the mid-term elections in November.
• In audio obtained by Cville Right Now, and previously reported by Cardinal News, Earle-Sears told attendees at a campaign event in southwest Virginia that the Commonwealth could cover cuts to Medicaid by taking money from the fund.
• A spokesperson for Earle-Sears did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
• During an Aug. 14 presentation to the Senate Finance and Appropriations, House Appropriations and House Finance Committees, Virginia Secretary of Finance Stephen E. Cummings reported that the rainy-day fund has, for Fiscal Year 2025, $4.75 million in it, and projects that amount to dip to $4.46 million in Fiscal Year 2026.
• But according to Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services chief financial officer Chris Gordon, beginning on July 1, 2028, there is an estimated loss of $26 billion over 14 years.
• The ripple effect could mean less money coming into hospitals through Medicaid payments, endangering those organizations, particularly in rural areas. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association has estimated Virginia hospitals could lose as much as $2 billion a year as the cuts reach them.

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