Virginia — 6th District

In his Oct. 7, 2026, newsletter, Congressman Ben Cline writes: “I am proud to support the federal nutrition programs that help sustain families across Southwest Virginia, including the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and SNAP. I will also continue working to ensure these programs are focused on helping those who truly [italics mine] need them. That is why I introduced the No Welfare for the Wealthy Act, legislation to close the broad-based categorical eligibility loophole in SNAP.”

Such empty, hollow words from a member of Congress who voted for the Big Beautiful Bill, and we in the 6th District hurt from that vote today. Cline writes that he is fighting fraud and welfare for the wealthy but a June 17, 2026, report by the CATO Institute states, “The Trump administration is cracking down on waste in low-income welfare programs, but the GAO finds that the highest improper payment rate is in the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) — a subsidy program that mainly benefits high-income farmers.” Did Scott Bessett, a Cabinet member who self-identified as a soy bean farmer, receive monies ?

If Cline’s voting record is not enough to sway a voter against him, examine the word I italicized. The man seems obsessed with fraud, especially fraud by the poor. He is so focused on some parents buying a fast-food meal for their children that he has written about it in another newsletter. It seems that he, like many who wear that cloth, are the only ones who can determine who truly needs help.

This is all a repeat, it appears, of the “I Alone Can Fix It” attitude that has placed America in bed with Putin and his diesel fuel. Cline supports all of this either by his active vote or his cowardly silence. If he is so bent on fighting fraud, why does he not at least speak out against the massive money being gilded by some of those in the White House.

Beth Macy, who Cline refused to debate, understands, values, and fights for 6th District voters. She worked thirty years as a reporter for the Roanoke Times where she heard Valley voices and wrote about the tribulations of regular Valley citizens. She profiled John Bassett’s fight against cheap, Chinese furniture imports and helped save the jobs of his employees in his southwest Virginia factory town. Meeting the mother of her dead 19-year-old at his grave in Strasburg, Macy listened to the mother’s grief and that of others in the Valley whose lives had been shattered by the influx of opioids and other killer drugs. Macy walked in the dark shades of our Valley to expose drug dealers, dishonest doctors, and big pharma. Her book "Dopesick" helped save our children and young adults from dope. Macy, poor as a child, lived the truth of programs such as SNAP or Pell Grants.

Macy knows the 6th and its people and their issues because she is present, walking the walk on our streets. One of us; Macy works for us.

Roger Barbee is a resident of Woodstock.

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