One Year After Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA02) Voted for Trump’s “Big UGLY Bill,” Virginians Are Paying the Price

I would never EVER call the Big UGLY Bill by the bizarre, Orwellian name that Trump gave it, but other than that I agree with this press release from former Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA02):

One Year After Kiggans’ Vote for One Big Beautiful Bill, Virginians are Paying the Price

Health care costs have soared, health clinics have shuttered and hospitals are at risk of closing, and energy prices have skyrocketed

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – One year after Jen Kiggans cast a decisive vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill and President Donald Trump signed it into law, Virginians continue to pay the price for her broken promises, failed leadership and 100% Trump voting record. As a direct result of Kiggans’ vote, health care costs have skyrocketed, Virginians are losing their health insurance, hospitals in VA-02 are at risk of closure, and energy prices continue to climb.

“Jen Kiggans knew that the One Big Beautiful Bill would unleash rising prices and devastating harm on Virginia families, but voted for it anyway – choosing loyalty to Donald Trump over her own community. One year after she folded and cast a decisive vote for Trump’s agenda, the pain she has caused is clear: health care costs are up, thousands of people across Virginia’s 2nd District will lose health insurance, Southampton Medical Center in Franklin is at risk of closure, and energy bills are skyrocketing,” Rep. Luria said. “The people of Hampton Roads are paying the price for Jen Kiggans’ failed leadership and her 100% Trump voting record. Kiggans promised independence, but her votes show that could not be further from the truth. We deserve better.”

The impact of Jen Kiggans’ OBBA Broken Promises on VA-02: 

Kiggans promised to protect Medicaid, then voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill, which made the largest cut to Medicaid in history and could kick more than 21,000 people in VA-02 off their health insurance.

• Kiggans said she would not support a budget that included Medicaid cuts, and stressed the need to protect Medicaid and hospitals.
• Kiggans signed a letter saying she “cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that  includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations.”
• She cast the deciding vote to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Kiggans’ vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill cut nearly $800 million in expected annual revenue from Virginia hospitals, including more than $44 million from hospitals in VA-02. 

• Kiggans signed multiple letters to Republican leadership that stressed the “critical need” to protect Medicaid and hospitals.
• Southampton Memorial Hospital in VA-02 is expected to see more than $1.3 million in revenue cuts following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, and the hospital was flagged as being “at risk” of closure.
• Her vote cut nearly $3 billion in health care funding for Virginia.

Kiggans’ Vote For The One Big Beautiful Bill slashed SNAP benefits for working families to give the richest 1% hundreds of billions in tax cuts. 

• The One Big Beautiful Bill enacted the largest SNAP cut in the program’s history, threatening to take away food assistance for more than 22,000 households in VA-02. 
• The One Big Beautiful Bill’s biggest tax cuts benefited the wealthiest, giving them tax cuts three times greater than for working Americans.

Kiggans feigned concern about how the One Big Beautiful Bill slashing clean energy tax credits would raise energy prices and threaten thousands of jobs in VA-02, but voted for the bill anyway. 

• Kiggans wrote a letter “voicing [her] support” for the clean energy tax credits and warned cutting them would raise energy costs.
  • She said the tax credits had led to an increase in clean energy production and domestic manufacturing in her district.
• Kiggans warned that cutting clean energy tax credits could lead to higher energy bills for Virginians. 
  • Despite warning that cutting the credits would increase energy prices and threatened billions in clean energy investments in her district and across Virginia, Kiggans “flip-flopped” and voted to cut them anyway. 
• The One Big Beautiful Bill threatened more than $13 billion in investments supporting 3,325 jobs in Kiggans’ district.

Jen Kiggans has established a pattern of promising Virginians one thing in public, only to turn around and vote the other way in Washington. Kiggans lied when she promised to protect access to health care, only to turn around and vote for the largest cuts to Medicaid in history. Kiggans lied when she said she would extend the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, but then voted to allow health care premiums to skyrocket. Kiggans lied again when she promised to protect clean energy tax credits, but then “flip-flopped” and voted to take a “sledgehammer” to the credits instead. Kiggans has voted 100% of the time with Donald Trump – demonstrating that she puts her D.C. party bosses ahead of the Virginians she claims to represent.

 

Kiggans was a major proponent of DOGE even as the agency wrecked Virginia’s economy and hurt veterans. Local media reported that “Kiggans embraced the program from the outset” and even said DOGE was “so necessary.” It has been reported that Kiggans’ backing of DOGE led to “the termination of more than $8.3 million in grants and leases tied to the district, including funding streams connected to veterans services and facilities.”