Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (R-VA) — who represents a swing district encompassing Virginia’s Eastern Shore and much of the Hampton Roads region — took to Thursday’s CBS Mornings Plus and calmly explained the facts behind the Big, Beautiful Bill, specifically changes to Medicaid and its unsustainable path without reform.
Fill-in co-host Vladimir Dutheirs gently went down this liberal media talking point, not going all the way with the standard liberal hysterics about millions of Americans crudely having Medicaid torn away, leaving them without help if they’re sick: “You’ve signed a letter citing the importance of protecting Medicaid. Does the current version of the bill do that? And have you decided how you’re going to vote?”
Kiggans replied this “bill protects and strengthens Medicaid” and, as “nurse practitioner by trade” serving the elderly, she “understand[s] very much the implications of when we — when we change things in Medicaid,” but it’s expanded far beyond both its costs and intended purpose:
Duthiers was more direct with the far-left messaging that we’ll hear daily heading into the 2026 midterms. Kiggans explained how a bill this massive was something she had to support, including more money for the military, which affects her district more than arguably any other in the country (click the X post to read the full exchange):
The first half of the interview was more liberal media fear-mongering. Fill-in co-host Nancy Chen brought up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) vis-à-vis lifeguards on national seashores and staffing for National Parks (click “expand”):
CHEN: By the way, if you are headed to the beach this Fourth of July, holiday, swimmers, beware. You could see fewer lifeguards on duty. Not only this weekend, but the entire summer. Fewer than half of the nearly 8,000 seasonal federal park positions, including lifeguards, have been filled, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, also known as the NPCA. And, at Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland and Virginia, which is managed by the National Park Service, there are no lifeguards at all. We went there to find out why.
NATIONAL PARKS CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION’s ED STIERLI: The reason there are no lifeguards at Assateague is honestly a symptom of the chaos and dysfunction that has been impacting this agency since the beginning of this administration.
(....)
CHEN: Millions of people were out there on the shoreline and millions go out every single year. We were out there on a very busy day. What concerns you about not having any lifeguards out there?
KIGGANS: Yeah, I have a district that lives on the beach and the bay, including the Eastern Shore and Assateague is one of those national parks that has been impacted. We, as the representative of that district, have pushed back to the Department of Interior. We’ve written a letter. I had Secretary Burgum in front of me at Natural Resources Committee a couple of weeks ago. We asked him directly, you know, about this — this — this federal worker freeze that they should not have been impacted. Those — those workers are exempt. The lifeguards are exempt, so we are working very hard to make sure that they are hired. I know it’s it’s now July. Summer is in full throw. We have thousands of millions of visitors that — that visit our beaches in Virginia’s Second Congressional District, so we are pushing back, but we need to get those lifeguards hired. They should — they should never have been impacted by that hiring freeze.
CHEN: And Congressman, I’m curious the NPCA blames these staffing issues on the ripple effects of what has happened under the Trump administration, including firing federal workers, offering buyouts, and implementing hiring freezes. You’ve been in support of many of these DOGE federal cuts. Are you still in support now, given what’s transpired?
KIGGANS: Yeah, we’ve pushed back numerous times and a couple of different areas, not just this lifeguard issue, but also in our shipyards, our public shipyards. We know that — that they were impacted. I think it was a mistake and then also in the VA space, some — some of the providers — all the providers, the physicians and nurses should have been exempt. So we’ve picked up the phone and make sure we’ve advocated for — for those positions too, so it wasn’t a perfect rollout. But, you know, we’ve done our job as a representative, a district where people were impacted by some of those changes and push back.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from July 3, click here.
