West Virginia’s senators voted in favor of legislation to claw back $9 billion in foreign aid and federal funding for public broadcasting.
The 51-48 vote took place in the early morning hours after a 12-hour session of votes on proposed amendments. Two Republicans — Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voted with Democrats against the bill.
Because the Senate made changes, the bill now goes back to the House of Representatives, which must pass it by Friday under the law that Republicans are using to undo spending that Congress previously approved.
“Senate Republicans have listened to the American people who want us to rein in spending,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.
“Senate Republicans responded by passing a rescissions package that eliminates wasteful spending, an important step towards getting America’s fiscal house back in order. The last four years saw example after example of misused taxpayer dollars. I am proud to support this legislation that takes a small but necessary step to rein in federal spending and save taxpayer dollars.”
Senator Jim Justice, R-W.Va., also voted in favor of the legislation.
“Proud to cast my vote for this commonsense rescissions package after completing our fourth vote-a-rama this year. This helps keep hardworking folks’ tax dollars from being spent on out-of-touch nonsense on the other side of the world,” Justice posted on social media.
With an American flag emoji, Justice concluded, “Under @realDonaldTrump, we are back to putting Americans first.”
The legislation would halt funding for the U.S. Agency for International Development, global health programs and international peacekeeping efforts.
And the bill would cut $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds PBS and NPR.
Eddie Isom, executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, said he is still assessing how programming offerings in the state might be affected.
“There are a lot of unknowns. This happened hours ago,” Isom said on MetroNews Talkline. “And you know, myself and other local stations really haven’t had an opportunity to digest this in any way.
“So, you know, we’re still kind of in a wait see mode at the moment. I know that there will be meetings over the next couple of weeks with me and managers of other local stations — radio and TV across the country — as we try to figure this out.”
West Virginia Public Broadcasting receives support from national public broadcasting, he noted, but also has other forms of support like fundraising.
“It is important to realize you know, that we do operate independently. We’re all set up very differently, and we’re intentionally set up to serve our communities,” Isom said.
“That’s why we’re called West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and we do that by preserving our culture or heritage through our documentaries that we do for television and through our radio podcast Inside Appalachia, where we delve deep into who we are as a people here in Appalachia.”