Last year, from West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito’s congressional website:

And yesterday, from West Virginia Watch’s Lori Kersey:

West Virginia Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice, both Republicans, signed off Thursday on legislation that would claw back about $9 billion in funding previously approved for public broadcasting and various foreign aid programs.

The rescissions package, a request from President Donald Trump, passed around 2:30 a.m. with a narrow 51-48 vote mostly along party lines.

The legislation would claw back $1.1 billion in funding approved for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which contributes to National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service, West Virginia Public Broadcasting and hundreds of other local stations across the country. The money was meant to cover the next fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, and the year following.

Not unlike her other votes that negatively affect West Virginians, Capito put a positive spin on her vote. From yesterday's Wheeling Intelligencer:

“We’re going to be working with them,” Capito said. “There are several (congressional) members that want to see that local flavor preserved. I think about ‘Mountain Stage.’ I think about the West Virginia history that we see on the TV and the great entertainment that many times we get through West Virginia public radio.”

I wonder if our senator has ever watched “Mountain Stage”? I doubt it, but it was probably smart of her to name-drop it. Just a hunch but I doubt that Capito is aware that “Mountain Stage” has always featured a wide spectrum of viewpoints including Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, Joan Baez, and other progressive voices who are probably not big fans of the Trump Party. Yeah, if "Mountain Stage" is to survive, the program would probably need to limit itself to conservative artists and then change its name to “Mountain Stage Right.”

Weather warnings

Additionally, Senator Capito appears to have joined other Republicans in ignoring the important role that public broadcasting plays in rural America. From Congressman Morgan McGarvey (D-KY) in the Louisville Courier Journal just before the funding vote was taken:

In Kentucky, public broadcasting serves as a major source for emergency weather alerts to warn people about floods and natural disasters. The National Weather Service has reported 48 tornadoes in Kentucky so far in 2025, including one in May that left 19 people dead.

"We know when seconds and minutes matter in extreme weather that we need to use as many ways as possible to help people know about it," said McGarvey, who voted against the rescissions in a House vote in early June. "And this is a reliable and cost effective way to keep people in rural Kentucky safe, and the Trump administration is cutting it."

And this would be in addition to the cuts that the Trump administration has already made to the National Weather Service.

Senator Capito is serving the Trump administration very well. West Virginians? Not so much.