Virginia health care advocates join Capitol Hill rally against Republican spending cuts

“The consequences are really high across the nation but particularly in Virginia with Medicaid expansion going away immediately if there’s that funding cut,” said Freddy Mejia, policy director at The Commonwealth Institute.

Virginians joined hundreds of people to rally outside the US Capitol in Washington on Thursday to protest congressional Republicans’ plan to cut off access to health care and groceries for millions of low-income Americans.

House Republicans passed a budget resolution that same day that calls for $1.5 trillion in federal spending cuts to subsidize the Trump administration’s desired tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

A March report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said spending cuts of that magnitude would require extensive cuts to Medicaid. The program has been popular since its inception, as it helps the most disadvantaged Americans access healthcare in a country where, despite the high cost of healthcare, residents have worse health outcomes compared to those in other wealthy nations.

Advocates are also worried the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps working class people afford groceries, is on the chopping block.

“As an educator, I understand the value nutrition has on the academic and social-emotional success of our learners,” Smithfield resident Danielle Coughlin said in a statement. “The cuts being made to SNAP will affect thousands of students across Hampton Roads.”

All six Democratic US House members from Virginia voted against the spending cuts, and all five Republican members supported it. 

“There is nothing fiscally responsible about the Trump – Republican budget,” US Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia posted on X. “It will increase the deficit by giving tax handouts to corporations and billionaires while cutting education, Medicaid and child nutrition programs.”

Corey Taylor, the CEO of Peter Paul RVA, a community center in Richmond’s East End, said his organization serves many families and elderly people who rely on Medicaid. He said the prospect of Medicaid cuts creates uncertainty about how these community members will be able to afford health care. 

“The common people are the people that are being the most affected by all of these changes,” Taylor told The Dogwood.  

Freddy Mejia, the policy director at The Commonwealth Institute, a Virginia research organization, said the Republican plan puts more than 600,000 Virginians at risk of losing their healthcare. This is due to a trigger law included in Virginia’s Medicaid expansion that says if federal funding for the expansion drops below 90%, the state is required to disenroll and eliminate coverage for these people. 

“The consequences are really high across the nation but particularly in Virginia with Medicaid expansion going away immediately if there’s that funding cut,” Mejia told The Dogwood.