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Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton shared a new report detailing the devastating impacts of House Republicans’ reckless plan to gut critical support for hardworking families in Virginia’s 10th District.

“The extreme budget cuts being championed by House Republicans would be devastating to Virginians’ health, safety, and education here in the 10th District and all across the commonwealth,” said Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton. “From vulnerable children to veterans to seniors, Virginians everywhere would be hit hard as a result of these cuts – losing access to key assistance programs and forced to pay more for everything from daycare to groceries. I’m fighting to protect these critical services that all Americans rely on and work in a bipartisan way to avoid a catastrophic default on our debt.”

Continued Republican calls for cuts of this magnitude would be absolutely detrimental to all Americans, many of whom have not seen a pay raise in years and are struggling to pay their bills. That is in sharp contrast to President Biden’s budget, which invests in America, lowers costs for families, protects and strengthens Social Security and Medicare, and reduces the deficit by nearly $3 trillion over 10 years.

In Virginia, the extreme House Republican plan would:

Raise Costs for Families and Students

• Raise housing costs for 13,400 Virginians, putting many seniors, persons with disabilities, and children at risk of homelessness.
• Eliminate 4,900 preschool and childcare slots for Virginia children, including 3,600 Head Start slots.
• Threaten food assistance for 22,000 Virginians aged 50-55 by raising the age limit for stricter work requirements for SNAP.
• Spike college costs for 162,000 Virginians by eliminating Pell Grants for 2,600 students and cap the maximum award by almost $1,000 for the remaining 160,300 students who receive Pell Grants.

Endanger Public Safety and Worsen Public Health

• Deny 600 Virginians admission to opioid treatment through the State Opioid Response grant program, which will result in more overdoses and cost lives.
• Cut 180 rail safety inspections for 1,350 miles of track, increasing the odds that Virginia endures a railroad catastrophe like the one in East Palestine.
• Put lives at risk by shutting down at least two air traffic control towers in the state, making our airports less safe and increasing wait times to over two hours.

Harm Seniors and Veterans

• Strip veterans of lifesaving health care in the form of 79,100 fewer outpatient visits for them, thus denying them of crucial wellness visits, mental health services, and substance disorder treatment.
• Make 1.7 million Virginia seniors and people with disabilities wait at least two months longer for Social Security and Medicare assistance by cutting the number of staff available to serve them.

A fact sheet on how the extreme House Republican proposal would impact Virginia can be found here.

A map detailing the devastating impacts for Virginia-10 of Republicans' threat to default on America’s bills – including killing 8,300 VA-10 jobs and threatening the retirement savings of 97,300 people in the district – can be found here.

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