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Fairfax County Democrats are escalating their opposition to the Trump administration’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” warning that its health care and food-assistance cuts could have severe consequences for Virginians.
During a virtual roundtable Thursday, July 10, three local lawmakers denounced the nearly 1,000-page budget reconciliation measure, which narrowly cleared Congress and was signed into law July 4.
“This is not a beautiful bill at all,” state Sen. Saddam Salim (D-37) said. “This is a bill that’s going to cripple a lot of us, especially in Virginia.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the sweeping legislation will reduce federal tax revenue by more than $4 trillion over the next decade.
It also directs major spending increases toward immigration enforcement and defense. Funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is set to rise tenfold, reaching nearly $100 billion by 2029, while another $150 billion has been allocated for defense.
Those increases accompany the reallocation of more than $1.2 trillion, primarily from existing Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funding.
Health coverage at the center of the fight
Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw said the potential loss of health coverage is among the law’s most urgent consequences.
“This is a life-and-death issue for many, many Americans. It is not abstract,” Walkinshaw said. “So, it is incumbent on us as Democrats to go to the American people and explain just how much of a betrayal this bill is.”
Walkinshaw, who is running for the congressional seat held by his late mentor, Rep. Gerry Connolly, argued that the law adds red tape and arbitrary conditions that will make Medicaid and other public programs harder to access.
Under the adopted measure, adults must work at least 80 hours per month to qualify for coverage through Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act marketplace. States also will have to review every adult recipient’s eligibility twice a year, beginning no later than 2027.
The CBO had not yet released an analysis of the final law at the time of the roundtable. However, it estimated in late June that an earlier version approved by the Senate Budget Committee would leave 11.8 million more people uninsured nationwide, according to health policy research organization KFF.
“I spent more than a decade watching Republicans in Congress, and if there is one thing that motivates them above all else, it is cutting taxes for the very wealthy and taking health care from working people,” Walkinshaw said. “Fundamentally, that’s what this bill does.”
Watts questions tipped-worker deduction
Del. Vivian Watts (D-39), chair of the Virginia House Finance Committee, said roughly two-thirds of the measure concerns taxes and questioned whether some of its provisions address genuine problems.
She pointed to a provision allowing tipped employees to deduct as much as $25,000 from their taxable income. One analysis found that 37% of tipped workers already earn too little to owe federal income tax.
“I spent seven years working my way through college as a waitress [and] I can assure you — and I’ve checked it with several restaurants recently — in all levels of restaurants, most don’t declare cash tips,” Watts said. “Therefore they’re already tax free, so only about 60% of those who get tips will get any break.”
Watts also warned that Virginia could lose tax revenue as immigrant workers are deported. She said the state’s deportation numbers exceed those of most others.
ICE arrests in Virginia rose 350% compared with 2024, outpacing increases in California and Texas. Nearly 3,000 arrests were reported during the first five months of 2025, concentrated largely in Northern Virginia and the Richmond area. Fairfax County recorded about twice as many arrests as any other Virginia county.
“These working immigrants are paying taxes,” Watts said. “They have a social security number. They’re paying taxes, and those will go off the books.”