Senate Appropriations Committee Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Manchin, Capito Steer Federal Funds For State Projects In Budget Bill

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, both members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, each released a list of more than 100 projects that will receive federal funding from the budget bill.

West Virginia’s U.S. senators brought home tens of millions of dollars in funding for projects statewide in a budget bill Congress approved late Friday.

They include $12 million to finish a section of Corridor H from Wardensville to the Virginia state line. As well as $10 million to upgrade the water system in the town of West Union.

They also include funding for a farmers’ market in Martinsburg, to upgrade the historic Capitol Market in Charleston and to build the Capital Sports Center nearby.

Fire stations, communications systems, locks and dams, community colleges and universities, military bases, streets and sidewalks, courthouse security and police cruisers will benefit from what used to be called earmarks, now congressionally directed spending.

Manchin’s and Capito’s seats on the Appropriations Committee give West Virginia unusually powerful sway on where and how federal funds are spent.

See Manchin’s list of earmarked projects here.

See Capito’s list here.

Capito Receives Award For Senate Support Of Public Broadcasting

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito has received an award for her support of public broadcasting.

Capito accepted the Champion of Public Broadcasting Award from America’s Public Television Stations on Wednesday.

The two-term West Virginia Republican is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that maintains federal funding for public broadcasting.

In another role on a Homeland Security subcommittee, Capito has supported funding for public broadcasting’s emergency communications services.

“Public broadcasting plays a significant role in our communities and helps inform Americans on what is happening around their state, our nation, and our world,” Capito said. “It certainly does in my state of West Virginia.”

The organization also presented Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat, who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee alongside Capito, with the same award.

The award is the highest given by the organization, to state and federal leaders who have made an extraordinary contribution to public television.

The organization presented Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat, with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Blumenauer founded and chaired the Congressional Public Broadcasting Caucus.

November 18, 2009: Senator Robert C. Byrd Longest Serving Member of Congress

On November 18, 2009, Senator Robert C. Byrd became the nation’s longest-serving member of Congress. He was first elected to public office in 1946. After serving two terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates and one in the state senate, he was elected to three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1958, voters sent him to the U.S. Senate, where he would remain from 1959 until his death in 2010 at age 92.

In his early years, Byrd primarily was a conservative. He notably led a filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Over time, he became more liberal and eventually became one of President George W. Bush’s staunchest critics.

He served as the Senate’s Democratic leader for 12 years. And in 1989, he became chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. In this role, Byrd famously brought billions of federal dollars to West Virginia, including an FBI center in Clarksburg, IRS offices in Parkersburg, and a Fish and Wildlife Training Center in Shepherdstown.

For Byrd’s career of service, Governor Bob Wise and the legislature named him West Virginian of the 20^th Century.