U.S. Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (R-VA) is a former Navy helicopter pilot whose father was a Green Beret who served in Vietnam and whose husband is also a retired Navy pilot — Steve Kiggans flew F-18 fighter jets. Rep. Kiggans returned to school and became a nurse practitioner after her service, specializing in geriatric medicine.
This weekend, the Congresswoman went grocery shopping and shared a social media post thanking the Defense Commissary Agency, which administers government-run grocery stores for military service members.
With consumer goods prices like groceries higher in many cases since Donald Trump’s return to office, Kiggans revealed that she’s saving money by using the military-run shopping option, where she benefits from low prices subsidized by taxpayers.
Visiting the commissary at Hampton Roads, Kiggans told her followers “I save an average of $2-$3 off my favorite Tillamook chocolate peanut butter ice cream when I buy it on base!”
This Congresswoman is saving money at a government owned and operated grocery store. https://t.co/XOJzL80vsX
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) November 17, 2025
Discounted prices for soldiers and their families is not particularly controversial. Both sides of the aisle honor military service, despite the extreme commentary on X and elsewhere, and generally understand that “perks” like less expensive household staples is both part of an active duty service member’s overall compensation and a recruitment inducement.
While some begrudge the well-to-do Congresswoman her discount (“isn’t that double-dipping?”), there is little argument that service members shouldn’t receive the commissary benefit.
Some on the left, however, are sharing Kiggans’s post to promote the notion that Democratic Socialist NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani‘s idea about opening government-run grocery stores to service underserved communities. Many critics have blasted Mamdani’s idea of government-run stores as “socialist” and financially irresponsible, claiming that the state should remain completely separate from retail capitalism — no matter how many shares of Intel, etc., that President Trump negotiates for the U.S. Treasury to own.
Working class advocacy organizations like More Perfect Union, which shared Kiggans’s post above, see in the Congresswoman’s ice cream boast proof of concept for Mamdani’s stores, and position the Defense Commissary Agency as a loose model for Mamdani’s plans.
And I’m guessing the Congresswoman has screamed bloody murder for Mamdani’s preliminary plans for some city run grocery stores in New York. That’s communism! But her shopping at the PX is OK.
— Mark Concannon (@MarkConcannonSU) November 17, 2025
As CBS reports, Mamdani says the city would “buy and sell goods at wholesale prices, centralize warehousing and distribution, and collaborate with local neighborhoods on product selection and sourcing.” Noting that the city “already subsidizes private grocery store owners” with millions in subsidies, which the Mayor-elect will redirect to his city-owned efforts.
According to the VA, not all veterans are eligible for commissary shopping. The criteria published in 2020 extend commissary shopping privileges to:
- Veterans with any VA-documented service-connected disabilities;
- Purple Heart recipients;
- Former prisoners of war; and
- Individuals assessed, approved and designated as primary family caregivers to eligible Veterans under VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.
Neither Mamdani nor the Pentagon asserts that their government-run stores turn or will turn a strong profit. Instead, both contend they are necessary for the greater good they serve.