“FOLDED”: Kiggans and Wittman Skewered in Local Press for Breaking Promise Not to Cut Medicaid

After spending weeks pledging to their Virginia constituents that they would not vote to cut Medicaid, Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman did an about-face by casting the deciding votes for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history.

Now, the vulnerable Republicans are facing blowback in their local newspaper because “they folded after promising they would stand their ground.”

Here’s what Virginia voters are reading about Kiggans and Wittman:

• “We cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations.” That is what U.S. Reps. Rob Wittman and Jen Kiggans, along with 10 other Republican House members, wrote in a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson on April 14.
• On May 22, Wittman and Kiggans voted for a House budget reconciliation bill that the Congressional Budget Office says could leave 16 million people without health insurance over the next decade. Millions of those people will lose coverage because of $803 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which pays for health care for low-income individuals and households.
• Administrative changes in what President Donald Trump calls a “big beautiful bill” will make it harder to qualify for Medicaid. The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) predicts the House reconciliation bill will reduce the number of Medicaid recipients in Virginia by 21% in the next 10 years. That is the second largest percentage reduction in the country, according to KFF.
• Wittman, who represents part of the Peninsula, Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck, promoted the letter to Johnson to constituents. So did Kiggans, who represents most of Tidewater in south Hampton Roads.
• The budget reconciliation bill passed the House 215-214. If Wittman and Kiggans had done what they said they would, the bill would have failed.
• Wittman and Kiggans now claim the Medicare cuts they voted for only hurt those unwilling to meet new Medicaid work requirements and undocumented immigrants who were always ineligible. Multiple analyses by non-partisan research groups say the bill creates administrative obstacles that make it harder for everyone to qualify for Medicaid or reduce benefits.
• So are Wittman and Kiggans liars who betrayed those they represent? That question should determine their fitness to return to office in 2026.
• According to fact checkers, in his first administration, Trump made 30,000 untrue statements. He normalized lying in U.S. politics in unprecedented ways. Trump pushed his “Big Lie” about election fraud after Joe Biden beat him fair and square in 2020. Then, Trump lied some more to sell his “Big Lie” to voters to win a second term in 2024.
• Wittman and Kiggans operate in a political environment where Republicans are asked to swear blind loyalty to an authoritarian leader who sent supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol to try and stop the peaceful transfer of power.
• Today’s moderate Republicans seem to believe their political survival requires if not outright deceit of constituents, at least sleight of hand.
• So, you sign a letter saying Medicaid helps “children, seniors, individuals with disabilities and pregnant women.” Then, you buckle under the threat of a primary opponent from the Republican lunatic fringe and vote for new rules that make it harder for everyone to get help.
• You know Medicaid badly needs reform from fraud. But you also know that providers — not recipients — commit most of that fraud. Then, you look at the president’s priorities and you vote to rob your poorest constituents of health care access to pay for Trump’s tax cuts for the rich.
• Though you campaigned for election complaining about the national debt, you ignore the fact that the budget bill you voted for will add $2.4 trillion to the federal deficit.
• Wittman and Kiggans probably had noble intentions when they took a stand against reductions in Medicaid coverage. But they folded after promising they would stand their ground.
• Honesty matters, and truth depends on words, actions and consequences.