Freshman Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA), a former Navy pilot, had an animated debate with Freedom Caucus Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) about holding up the annual defense appropriations bill, which funds the military.
Kiggans, whose top priority is military and defense, and Good could be seen talking on the House floor during a vote series.
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Kiggans told the Washington Examiner that she expressed her frustration to Good about him and other hard-line conservative members blocking the rule on the Department of Defense appropriations bill and how they are preventing the military from being funded.
“When I go home, I get a lot of questions I gotta answer about why, especially the Virginia delegation, isn’t on the same sheet of music about this funding for the DOD,” Kiggans recalled telling Good. “So you know, what do you want me to tell them? Because the priority of funding our service members, there’s nothing more important, right? There’s nothing more important that we should be funding. That’s literally the role of the federal government.”
She said she listened to Good explain the Freedom Caucus position as to why they are blocking the defense appropriations bill, and it had nothing to do with the defense spending bill itself; rather, it was about them wanting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to commit to a top-line spending number.
In Kiggans’s mind, Congress isn’t spending enough on defense with all the threats in the world and the significant quality of life issues service members face, so for her fellow Republicans to block the bill from even receiving a vote is frustrating to her, she said.
“How dare you hold that up?” Kiggans told reporters, referring to the holdouts. “Those are my kids, right? My son is in flight school. I think of my son. I think of my other children, the so many people in my district, so it’s so frustrating for me that I have people in my own party that are not funding the Department of Defense.”
She said she told Good to “be mindful of the message this is sending when the world is watching.”
Good then told her that he agreed that Congress should fund the Department of Defense, which frustrated her as well.
“Then don’t hold it up,” Kiggans said. “Don’t do what you’re doing.”
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In a statement, a spokesperson for Good pushed back on the conversation.
“The article does not reflect how Congressman Good recalls the tenor or content of the conversation, but he doesn’t make it a practice of throwing his Virginia delegation colleagues under the bus based on the contents of a private conversation,” the statement said. “Congressman Good looks forward to a vote on the defense appropriations bill once the Speaker presents a plan for passing all 12 spending bills that fit within 2022 levels.”
