Virginia House Republicans vote in favor of Trump’s controversial bill, Democratic Senators plan amendments

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" in an overnight session on Thursday. Virginia leaders are now sharing their endorsements and criticisms of the sweeping legislation.

The H.R. 1 bill makes a number of changes, among them are:

• Extensions to the tax cuts enacted by the president during his first term in 2017
• Funding boosts for border, deportation and national defense priorities
• Reforms, like beefed-up work requirements on Medicaid that are projected to result in millions of low-income individuals losing health insurance
• Rollbacks to green energy tax incentives
• Removal of taxes on tips and overtime

The bill also increases the debt limit by $4 trillion.

The chamber passed the legislation in a 215-214 vote early on Thursday morning. Only two Republicans opposed the bill -- Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Rep. Warren Davidson (Ohio) -- while House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) voted "present."

According to the Senate Joint Economic (Minority) Committee -- using analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office -- an estimated 262,000 Virginians would lose health insurance coverage with the passing of H.R. 1.

All five of Virginia's House Republicans voted in favor of the bill -- Reps. Rob Wittman (VA-01), Jen Kiggans (VA-02), John McGuire (VA-05), Ben Cline (VA-06), and Morgan Griffith (VA-09).

Wittman and Kiggans -- who previously signed a letter saying they would not support any legislation that "includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations" -- released statements explaining their decision to support the bill Thursday morning.

Wittman argued the bill will "protect and preserve Medicaid for Virginia's most vulnerable" by removing "deceased, ineligible, and non-citizen beneficiaries."

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) disputed this claim, alleging that the bill's work requirements would affect children, pregnant women and older adults.

"If you put work requirements on this population, you're going to deprive people of Medicaid insurance who really are not able to comply with work requirements," Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told 8News on Thursday. "The House is [also] proposing to reduce premium subsidies that help people buy health insurance and Medicaid expansion and that's going to cause people to lose health insurance -- by reducing the subsidies that make it affordable."

Kiggans made a similar statement to Wittman, claiming that the legislation will reform programs like Medicaid and SNAP by "reducing waster, fraud, and abuse."

"Today, roughly 25% of Medicaid spending goes to non-disabled, working-age adults—with no requirement to work, volunteer, or pursue job training," Kiggans' statement reads. "This bill begins to change that."

“This bill would do real harm to Virginia families, workers, and communities," said Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in a joint statement with Kaine. "It would raise taxes on working families and rip health care away from more than 262,000 people in Virginia in order to give tax breaks to Donald Trump and his billionaire friends. Virginians deserve better, and we will oppose this bill with everything we’ve got as it comes to the Senate. “