Letters to the Editor: Kiley sells his soul, and more


Published in the Sacramento Bee, July 13, 2025

Kiley sells his soul

“Nurses, Rocklin residents protest Medicaid cuts at Rep. Kevin Kiley’s office,” (sacbee.com, July 1)

When my representative, Congressman Kevin Kiley, was a state legislator, he vocally supported Senate Bill 1004, a bipartisan bill that bolstered children’s mental health services. Children’s mental health was one of the few things Kiley and I agreed on.

That ended on July 3, when Kiley voted for President Donald Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, which cuts Medicaid by $1 trillion. Consequently, millions of children will be kicked off Medicaid, the nation’s largest funder of mental health services. Children will die because of this legislation.

Mark McKibbin

Published in The Union, July 11, 2025

Kevin Kiley’s misleading Representative Report

Today’s Representative Report from my Congressman, Kevin Kiley, included several mostly false and misleading statements.

Mr. Kiley claims that, according to the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) in legislation he helped pass, a family of four “could see up to $16,000 increase in yearly take-home pay.” As of now, the CEA has not submitted a report that confirms this number, and Kiley is severely inflating an unverified number. Why the rush to tell his constituents falsehoods instead of waiting for the CEA to deliver a report?

Mr. Kiley states: “We got Governor Newsom to sunset his program of comprehensive Medi-Cal for Illegal immigrants…” This ambiguous statement is false. As of July 2025, there is no credible report that this program has been repealed or “sunset.”

Mr. Kiley’s most hyperbolic and untrue statement: “Medi-Cal for illegal immigrants has taken away $23 billion from our own citizens in just two years.” Medi-Cal funds are not taken away from “our own citizens” – the program is comprised of both state and federal dollars, and benefits have been expanded. Undocumented residents accounted for up to $4 billion annually, a far cry from the highly exaggerated $23 billion.

When politicians such as Kevin Kiley resort to exaggerations and lies to gain support, the obvious conclusion is that their points of view are either severely unpopular or entirely self-serving.

Mr. Kiley should give his constituents some credit – we can handle the truth.

Shelley Frost

Published in the Sacramento Bee, July 20, 2025

Thank Democrats

“California wins $22 million for a new lane on Highway 65 in Placer County,” (sacbee.com, July 11.) Rep. Kevin Kiley is taking a victory lap for his role in securing federal funding for our community. In a recent self-congratulatory newsletter, he credits both the Department of Transportation and the current Transportation Secretary for the financing. Perhaps someone should remind him that the BUILD grant program, through which this funding was secured, was initially established by the Obama administration in the 2009 Recovery Act and reauthorized in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

The congressman is an opportunist. He’ll take the credit, but he won’t thank the Democratic administrations for having done the work.

Barbara Smith

Published in the Gold Country Media, August 3, 2025

Kiley distracts from cuts to key programs in the BBB

Kevin Kiley emailed his CA 3 constituents on 7.28.25, boasting that he had voted to protect senior citizens with “the largest tax relief in our nation’s history ... Seniors will benefit from a special $6,000 deduction, a higher standard deduction, and a SALT cap increase from $10,000 to $40,000.”

There are several problems with this claim. First, the largest tax relief in history just went to our nation’s wealthiest citizens (millionaires and billionaires) in the form of egregious tax cuts.

Second, Kiley wrote his announcement as if all seniors would get $6,000 ($12,000 per couple) knocked off their taxes. Estimates indicate that 88 percent of seniors will indeed receive some type of deduction, but not everyone will receive the full deduction. Our tax system is extremely complex.

A “tax deduction” is an expense that can be subtracted from an individual’s or business’ gross income to arrive at their taxable income. If one does not have much taxable income, such as people who rely on Social Security for most or all of their income, the tax deduction is meaningless; they don’t make enough money to be taxed on it. Simply stated, poor people and lower middle-income people will not have enough income to be able to use the tax deduction.

Furthermore, the deduction is temporary because it expires in 2028. That date, by design, comes after the date of the next midterm elections. Many people will think the tax deduction continues indefinitely, and Kiley has not mentioned that it ends.

Third, money for the tax cuts comes directly from funds taken away from other investments that significantly impact our standard of living, our healthcare and international relations. Funds already approved by Congress, such as for education, health and aid to starving people around the world, have been erased in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and these Social Security tax deductions.

Kiley’s boasting about tax deductions for Social Security appears designed to distract seniors from noticing the effects of the rest of the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Don’t fall for it.

Susan Roughgarden

Published in the Sacramento Bee, August 15, 2025

Kiley [votes to strip] the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Last week, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced that it is shutting down permanently after 60 years of funding PBS, NPR, and local stations. Last month, Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley explicitly voted for exactly this outcome, despite the fact that public broadcasting is especially important in rural areas such as his district.

Users on social media were passing around clips of Fred Rogers testifying before Congress in 1969 about the importance of PBS, especially for children. Most of us grew up watching Sesame Street. But Kiley doesn’t care about Mr. Rogers, or Big Bird, or the well-being of his constituents. He cares about enriching and protecting billionaires, and nothing else.

The CPB is only the latest thing Kiley has voted to strip away. His concern for his constituents is non-existent. Please let him know that he is supposed to be working for US, not the billionaires.

Vicki Bosch