Residents Maintain Pressure On W.Va. Congressional Delegation Against Cuts To Medicaid, Social Services 

A day after half a dozen protesters were arrested outside of Sen. Shelley Moore Capito’s Charleston office, a separate small group of about a dozen protesters were at her Morgantown office. 

Theo Web is a volunteer with Mountaineers Indivisible Citizen Action, a group that has been holding weekly demonstrations, alternating between Capito and Rep. Riley Moore’s local offices for weeks.

Web said they have tried to contact their representatives to try and convince them to vote against President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful, bill” and stop cuts to Medicaid and local federal jobs. 

“We did a town hall. All the representatives were invited. None of them showed up,” he said. “They’ll pop in once in a while for some photo ops and leave, so we do not feel they’re really communicating with the constituency. People’s lives are on the line. We’re going to keep protesting, we’re going to stand strong, we’re going to keep that pressure up, because I think everyone needs a right to be heard here.”

He said the group will continue to demonstrate weekly because they want to support rural hospitals for everyone to get health care.

More than 30 people were also arrested at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday in a broader protest against cuts to Medicaid. 

Web called the arrests in D.C. immoral and said he didn’t understand why people in wheelchairs fighting for their health care needed to be zip tied.

“I saw pictures where they are zip tied in the wheelchair. These people, they’re doing what they have to do,” he said. “They are trying to get redress of the grievances, that is in our Constitution. It’s their right to petition their representatives. If these wealthy people can lobby Congress with billions, millions, hundreds of millions of dollars, and buy elections, disabled people can go to those offices and be heard.”

The proposed cuts, as well as those already implemented at federal offices like NIOSH, are far-reaching and affect everyone. Which is why Web said the community needs to unite together in solidarity.

“We’re going to stand up for what’s good for West Virginians, what’s good for our communities,” he said. “It’s not just Morgantown. There’s local communities and they’re coming together, and they’re out there protesting, they’re out there organizing, and it’s happening all over the country. We’re just part of that, and everyone is going to have to depend on each other to stand up for one another.”