Plaskett Warns of Federal Cuts While Urging V.I. To Seize Recovery Opportunities

In a statement Thursday, Congresswoman Stacey E. Plaskett said the newly signed federal reconciliation bill, while securing a long-fought win on rum cover-over revenue, will bring deep cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and other essential programs in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“Last week President Trump signed into law his tax and spending bill, H.R. 1, which passed the House and Senate narrowly with solely Republican votes and several Republican defections,” Plaskett said in a statement. “While the inclusion of permanent rum cover-over in H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, represents a major win for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico … the bill will also bring significant challenges.”

Plaskett said she has already reached out to the Virgin Islands Legislature and government finance team to offer her office’s support and begin preparing for the anticipated fiscal impacts, according to the statement.

“It will be imperative for the Virgin Islands local government to focus on finding new revenues and act creatively to remedy the impacts of federal cuts locally,” she said. “This legislation will require us to find additional sources for increasing revenues to the general fund to continue providing support to families — supporting new businesses, jump starting local small businesses and training our own local workforce to support the rebuilding and construction projects that must come online.”

Plaskett emphasized in the statement the opportunity to leverage the Biden-Harris administration’s cost-share waiver and billions in federal recovery funding to stimulate economic growth. Under the current waiver, eligible projects approved before Sept. 30, 2024, require only a 2 percent local match instead of the standard 10 percent, with others reduced to 5% resulting in projected cost savings of nearly $1.5 billion for the territory.