Ben Cline Jen Kiggans Rob Wittman Healthcare Virginia

Ben Cline, Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman Took Credit for $189 Million in Rural Health Money. The Same Law Is Projected to Cost Virginia's Health Facilities $26 Billion, and Clinics in Cline's District Already Closed.

All three Virginia Republicans issued press releases celebrating Virginia's $189.5 million Rural Health Transformation grant. All three voted for the budget bill that created it, which Virginia's Medicaid agency estimated will cost the state's health facilities $26 billion in federal payments. A Shenandoah Valley health system closed three clinics, naming that law.

MAGA Report Cards · Nov 03, 2026

In his email newsletter, Ben Cline patted himself on the back for supporting the Rural Health Transformation Program, which is sending about $190 million to Virginia. A reader in Mount Solon wrote to the Daily News-Record to point out what the newsletter left out: the money comes from the same law that is closing clinics in Cline's own district.

Cline isn't the only Virginia Republican taking that victory lap. Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman put out press releases about the same grant. All three voted for the law that created it, and all three left out the same thing.

What they said

When the federal government announced in late December 2025 that Virginia would get $189,544,888 from the program, the releases followed:

Cline, January 7: "I was proud to support Virginia's application and help secure nearly $190 million to improve access to quality health care in our rural communities." His release noted the program "was created through H.R. 1, legislation supported by Rep. Ben Cline."
Kiggans, January 7, under the headline "Kiggans Delivers $189 Million for Rural Health Care in Virginia": "That's why I am so excited to deliver this rural healthcare grant to Virginia. Because of the Working Families Tax Cut, which I proudly voted for..."
Wittman: the money "will support and sustain our rural health institutions — ensuring that Virginians have access to quality, affordable care, no matter where they live."

The "Working Families Tax Cut" Kiggans names is the new label for Trump's budget bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Cline, Kiggans and Wittman all voted for its final version on July 3, 2025.

What they left out

That budget bill is expected to cut federal Medicaid spending by $911 billion over a decade, according to Virginia Business. Virginia's own Medicaid agency estimated in July 2025 that the state's health care facilities will likely lose $26 billion in federal payments over the next 14 years because of it. (Then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin later dismissed that figure as not part of an official analysis.)

Put the two numbers side by side. The grant is $189.5 million for this year. The state's estimate of what the law costs Virginia's health facilities is $26 billion. Virginia's application to the rural fund proposed $1 billion in projects; its first-year award fell far short of that.

And the damage didn't wait for the grant. In September 2025, two months after the bill became law, Augusta Medical Group closed three clinics in the Shenandoah Valley: Buena Vista Primary Care, Churchville Primary Care and Weyers Cave Urgent Care. The health system said the closures were part of its "ongoing response" to the law. Patients were sent to clinics about 10 miles away, or farther for urgent care.

All three clinics are in Virginia's 6th District, which Cline represents. According to the Virginia Mercury, about 21% of the district's residents are on Medicaid.

Two of them saw it coming

Kiggans and Wittman can't say they didn't know. The Virginia Mercury reported that both had urged Congress to reconsider the bill's health care provisions, "before ultimately voting for it anyway." We've written about the letter Wittman signed vowing not to support any bill that reduced Medicaid coverage for vulnerable people, and how the outcome it warned about began in the Shenandoah Valley within two months.

The rural fund is not new money on top of everything else. It's a smaller pot of money created inside the same law that takes the larger amount away. Republicans in other states have made the same pitch: we found eight of them campaigning on the $50 billion fund while the law cuts far more from rural Medicaid.

The bottom line

Ben Cline, Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman each issued press releases taking credit for Virginia's $189.5 million rural health grant. All three voted for the budget bill that created the fund, which Virginia's Medicaid agency estimated will cost the state's health facilities $26 billion in federal payments over 14 years. Two months after it became law, Augusta Medical Group closed three clinics in Cline's district, citing it. Kiggans and Wittman had warned Congress about the bill's health cuts before voting for it.