Starting no later than January 1, 2027, adults in Virginia's Medicaid expansion, disabled adults among them, must log 80 monthly hours of work, school, volunteering or job training unless one of the law's exemptions applies, under a work requirement Rob Wittman voted to create on July 3, 2025. In his district, 8,200 people with disabilities and 43,200 expansion adults were on Medicaid in 2025.
Wittman's February and April 2025 votes were decisive for the budget resolution that set a savings target of at least $880 billion for the Energy and Commerce Committee, which writes Medicaid law, a target that puts at risk home and community-based care, the services that let disabled Virginians live outside institutions and that the state is free to scale back.
Rob Wittman's Votes on Medicaid Work Rules and Disability Services
- Disabled Adults in Virginia's Medicaid Expansion Must Fit an Exemption or Report Hours Under the Law Wittman Voted For in 2025. Rob Wittman cast a yes on July 3, 2025 as the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act carried 218 to 214, and he had voted yes on May 22 when the House version squeezed by 215 to 214. Expansion adults, starting no later than January 1, 2027, must log 80 hours of qualifying activity a month unless an exemption applies; the law's disability exemptions cover people who are blind or disabled under section 1614, those whose medical condition is serious or complex, those living with a disabling mental disorder, and anyone "with a physical, intellectual or developmental disability that significantly impairs their ability to perform 1 or more activities of daily living." The requirement's own rulemaking, from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, forecasts that "enrollment would be reduced by 2.3 million individuals in FY 2027." Under that rule, when the data a state already holds do not establish an exemption, the state "must require documentation" where it is reasonably available, a paperwork step standing between a disabled adult and continued coverage.
- Virginians Who Rely on Home Care Face Medicaid Cuts Under the Law Wittman Voted For, After a Budget Plan His Votes Decided. Wittman's yes counted twice for H.Con.Res. 14, at 217 to 215 on February 25, 2025 and at 216 to 214 for the final form on April 10. Either time, his reversal by itself would have meant a tie and a defeated resolution. It required the Energy and Commerce Committee, Medicaid's home in the House, to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000". The Bipartisan Policy Center calls the at-home supports disabled people use "largely an optional Medicaid benefit," and therefore "more vulnerable to reductions during periods of state or federal budget constraints," while experts it cites expect the law to "slow or reverse recent HCBS expansion efforts".
What Rob Wittman's Votes Mean for Virginians With Disabilities and Families in the 1st District
- 8,200 people with disabilities in the 1st District count on Medicaid. Medicaid served 8,200 disabled residents of Virginia's 1st District in 2025, KFF's district data show. For them Medicaid is the payer for therapy, equipment, prescriptions and personal care, all drawn from the federal funding the law cuts by $28.6 billion in Virginia.
- 14,422 Virginians wait for Medicaid home care. Virginia's Medicaid home-care waiting lists held 14,422 people in 2026, by KFF's count. Each name is someone who needs paid help to live at home, and a state absorbing a federal cut has less to spend on opening new slots.
- 12,843 disabled workers in the 1st District rely on a Social Security program the law makes $168.6 billion costlier. Social Security disability checks went to 180,371 disabled workers across Virginia at the end of 2024, and the 1st District accounted for 12,843 of them, per the Social Security Administration. Under the law Wittman voted for, the chief actuary estimates, Social Security's costs rise $168.6 billion over ten years, because the law lowers the tax on benefits whose revenue flows to the program.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rob Wittman on Disability rights
What is Rob Wittman's record on disability rights under Trump?
Rob Wittman's vote for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act enacted a work requirement that will reach adults in Virginia's Medicaid expansion group, disabled adults among them unless an exemption applies, and his votes were decisive for the 2025 budget resolution under which Energy and Commerce, the House panel over Medicaid, had to find at least $880 billion in savings. In his own district, 8,200 Medicaid enrollees had disabilities in 2025.
Which Medicaid enrollees in Rob Wittman's district does the work rule reach?
In Rob Wittman's 1st District, the work rule he voted for reaches the 43,200 adults enrolled through Virginia's Medicaid expansion, KFF's figures show; those who do not fall under one of its exemptions, the disability exemptions included, must meet the 80-hour monthly reporting requirement. States must begin enforcing the rule "no later than January 1, 2027."
How many Virginians with disabilities get Social Security, and what did Rob Wittman's vote do to the program?
Virginia had 180,371 disabled workers collecting Social Security in December 2024, 12,843 of them in Rob Wittman's district, per the Social Security Administration. The law Wittman voted for raises Social Security's costs by $168.6 billion over ten years, the program's chief actuary estimates, by cutting the income tax on benefits that helps fund it.
Last updated: 2026-10-27