Today, the U.S. Senate advanced Trump’s disastrous budget bill, which makes the largest cuts to Medicaid in history to fund tax cuts for billionaires. 

Republicans’ budget bill is estimated to strip health care coverage away from more than  300,000 Virginians, shut down rural hospitals and nursing homes, spike energy costs by 8%, rip away food assistance from hunger families and children, and trigger hundreds of job losses across the Commonwealth.

The bill now heads back to the House. All five Republican members of Virginia’s congressional delegation previously voted to advance the bill to the Senate – including vulnerable Republicans Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman.

Kiggans and Wittman are both facing heavy scrutiny for already breaking their promises to Virginia voters. 

• The Virginian-Pilot torched Kiggans and Wittman after they voted to pass the Republican budget out of the House, writing that they “sold out their constituents” when they broke their promise not to support any bill that cuts Medicaid. 
• Kiggans is also facing scrutiny after she “flip-flopped” by spending weeks pledging that she would support clean energy tax credits, only to turn around and cast the deciding vote to gut them.

DPVA Chairman Lamont Bagby shared the following statement:

“More than 300,000 Virginians could lose access to their health care coverage if Republicans’ disastrous budget bill becomes law. This isn’t just numbers on a page, it’s real lives on the line. Our hospitals, our nursing homes, and our communities can’t afford these cuts. By supporting this bill, Virginia’s Congressional Republicans are turning their backs on working families. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman already broke their promise to Virginians by voting to advance this disastrous budget that makes the largest cuts to Medicaid in history. Now they have one final chance to do the right thing and buck their party bosses. Will they stand with the people of Virginia, or will they once again bend the knee to Trump and his billionaire buddies pushing this harmful and dangerous agenda? The stakes couldn’t be higher.”

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