McGuire just voted to cut Medicaid for 160,000 constituents
He also greenlit cutting food and cash assistance for low-income families. Here's how that affects our neighbors.
The House passed its budget resolution today, and John McGuire voted for it along with the rest of his party:
The GOP’s budget contains massive cuts to—among other things—Medicaid, SNAP (a program that helps low-income people buy groceries), and TANF (cash assistance that helps very low-income people pay the bills).
Let’s take a look at how those cuts will affect McGuire’s constituents here in the 5th district.
Medicaid cuts
Republicans have signed up to eliminate $880 billion from Medicaid over the next ten years, which is around a 14 percent cut.
According to virginia.gov, more than one in five residents of the 5th district rely on Medicaid. That’s 166,000 people, including 62,000 children.
Food and cash benefits
Their budget also cuts $230 billion from SNAP, the groceries program—that’s a decrease of more than 20 percent, the largest in the program’s history—and another 10 percent from TANF.
Through these programs, more than 110,000 people in VA-5 receive nearly $18 million in benefits every month. We’re home to around 9 percent of the commonwealth’s population but almost 13 percent of its SNAP and TANF recipients.
I pulled the March 2025 numbers for every county in the 5th district:
In Lynchburg, where John McGuire’s district office is located, some 12,612 people got the federal government’s help with groceries or bills last month. 1
I haven’t been able to find any data showing how many people receive all three benefits. But I assume that most (and maybe all?) of the people who get both TANF and SNAP also rely on Medicaid. I can’t even imagine the hit they’re going to take when their health insurance gets worse, they get less help buying groceries, and they have less cash to pay the rent or get child care. And I can’t help wondering if the McGuire supporters among them knew they were signing up for this.
What’s next?
Congress needs a breather—taking all that money from poor people must be exhausting—so they’re going on a two-week recess. When they come back, they’ll use the blueprint they’ve just adopted to figure out the precise mix of spending cuts and increases that will make up the budget.
McGuire will be on recess! Does that mean he’s doing a town hall?
He hasn’t announced one. I’ve seen press reports that his team is saying he’ll do one by phone in May, but I don’t think they’ve announced any details.
How to contact him about the budget
Phone
DC office: (202) 225-4711
District office: (434) 791-2596
Stop by and say hi, here’s an idea, maybe don’t take money from poor kids so you can give Elon a tax cut:
Lynchburg District Office
20564 Timberlake Rd.
Lynchburg, VA 24502
The SNAP and TANF numbers for our district may be a touch high because a few counties are split between the 5th and another congressional district. But they’re in the ballpark. And the Medicaid numbers are precise, because Virginia helpfully breaks them down by congressional district.
Also, because I evidently can’t cut and paste properly, my original version of the chart included Loudon County, which isn’t in VA-5, and left out Halifax, which is. I’ve fixed the chart and updated numbers in the post accordingly.
Thank you so much. There is just too much to keep track of right now and your reporting cuts right to the vital facts. I know McGuire's nice guy is sick of my voice, but they will be hearing from me again. How do they justify this?
THANK YOU for this analysis!
Who wants to bet that he *won't* say: "Let's be clear. I did not vote to take money to live on away from my constituents so that we can give more to Elon Musk and "defense" spending. I voted to 'clear the framework' so that Republicans can decide where to cut."
Within the framework that is allowed, that is, which is Medicaid and SNAP.
He thinks he's being clever?