Latest news with #RileyMoore
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Townhall with more than 100 attendees criticizes Senator Capito and Representative Moore
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — The Mountaineers Indivisible Citizen Action (MICA) held a town hall on Saturday where concerned citizens aired their grievances with the representation from Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Representative Riley Moore. MICA said of the event on Facebook that they invited Senator Capito and Representative Moore and described the event as a 'Town Hall with (or without) Our Representatives'. Senator Capito and Representative Moore were not at the event. Instead, over 100 people filed into First Presbyterian Church in Morgantown to present their questions, concerns, and anger at two pictures of the Senator and Representative on stage. The grievances of the attendees of the town hall included cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, the executive branch overstepping its power, the abuse of the rights of immigrants and what attendees generally saw as the failure of Senator Capito and Representative Moore to speak out against these actions. A number of speakers presented their views on the Trump Administration's actions over the last couple of months. Towards the beginning of the town hall, West Virginia University Professor of Law Allison Peck said that the administration is not respecting the balance of power outlined in the Constitution. Peck went on to use the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia as an example, saying that the Trump Administration is violating court orders to return Garcia and not respecting a congressional law passed in 1952 that Peck said Garcia had previously successfully invoked in immigration court. After Peck, social worker Danny Trejo, who said he works a lot with Latino families, spoke on the impact the last few months has had on the immigrant community in Morgantown. He said that after federal law-enforcement reach an immigrant, the family that remain face hard times. '[ICE] usually get the breadwinners,' Trejo said. 'A lot of the families I'm hearing of are having problems trying to make ends meet and trying to decide if they're going to stay here or if they're going to go back to Latin America, Mexico, or South America.' Trejo went on to say that he is trying to organize donations for these families. Trump tells US steelworkers he's going to double tariffs on foreign steel to 50% Attendees were also invited to speak their thoughts and questions into a microphone. One woman asked why Senator Capito and Representative Moore were not standing up to President Trump, who she saw as breaking the law. A scientist lamented what he sees as the Trump Administration's attack on science and research. An elderly man decried that Medicare is at risk of losing significant funding under the Trump Administration. One man voiced his anger that a family member, who is a legal resident of the United States but is from Central America, is afraid to leave the house due to the Trump Administration's crackdown on immigration. One of the organizers of the event, Mindy Holcomb, said she was heartened by the display shown at town hall. 'It's heartwarming, really, because they are concerned about their neighbors. They are concerned about their family. And they don't want to see people go hungry and they don't wanna see people suffer and die or become seriously ill.' Holcomb went on to say that MICA has tried to meet with Senator Capito and Representative Moore with little success, and that MICA will continue to put pressure on Senator Capito and Representative Moore to try to get them to hear their voices. 'When people have stories like you've heard today, when they have suffering, only they can convey that,' Holcomb said. 'Having someone write down notes about what they're saying and convey that in theory to the congressman or the senator, that's not the same thing. That's not answering their questions. That's not hearing the pain that they are going through.' Holcomb ended the interview by saying, '[Senator Capito and Representative Moore] don't work for the Trump Administration. They work for us. We are their boss, and they owe us answers.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘A really bad deal for West Virginians': Advocates decry GOP's cuts to health care, food assistance
A Republican plan — if passed by the U.S. Senate — would cut Medicaid by at least $716 billion and the Supplemental Food Nutrition Program by $300 billion through 2034 and push a portion of the cost of the program to the states to backfill. Advocates say this would have "devastating" effects in West Virginia. (Getty Images) A Republican plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from food assistance and health care programs for low income Americans to make way for tax cuts would have 'devastating' results in West Virginia, advocates and providers say. The U.S. House of Representatives early Thursday passed a budget bill that analysts say would cut Medicaid by at least $716 billion — the largest in the program's history — and cause roughly 15 million people to lose their health care coverage over the next few years. The bill, which has yet to be approved by the U.S. Senate, would also cut the Supplemental Food Nutrition Program by $300 billion through 2034 and push a portion of the cost of the program to the states to backfill. Both West Virginia Reps. Riley Moore and Carol Miller, voted in support of the bill, which narrowly passed with a 215 to 214 vote. Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said the bill breaks a lot of promises made by Congress and President Donald Trump. 'It does, in fact, enact deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that will result in eligible people losing those benefits. It will raise grocery prices and health care costs for tens of thousands of West Virginia families,' she said. 'And despite all that, it still increases the deficit, and that's because it extends huge windfall tax cuts that primarily benefit the wealthiest households in America.' 'Overall, this package just feels like a really bad deal for West Virginians,' she said. In West Virginia more than 500,000 people rely on Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program for their health coverage. The bill adds work reporting requirements, primarily for the expansion population — those that are on the program as a result of the Affordable Care Act expanding coverage to low-income households, Allen said. It also requires more frequent renewals, where participants are revaluated for eligibility in the program. The work reporting requirements and the more frequent determinations would result in an estimated 50,000 West Virginians being kicked off the health programs, despite continuing to qualify for coverage, she said. 'The vast majority of West Virginians on Medicaid are either already working or likely would meet an exemption because they're doing caregiving, they're in school, they're disabled,' Allen said. 'But just because what we've seen in other states who have tried this is that overwhelmingly, people who do qualify get kicked off because the new requirements are confusing, burdensome and difficult to follow.' The bill also adds co-pays up to $35 per Medicaid service and reduces retroactive eligibility from 90 days to one month, which would lead to hospitals in the states absorbing more uncompensated care, Allen said. The changes are estimated to cost West Virginia about $200 million per year in federal health care money that go to the state's hospitals and providers, Allen said. 'We know hospitals will see less revenue, and instead they'll see more of a need for uncompensated care,' Allen said. The loss of revenue will result in an estimated loss of 2,000 to 3,000 health care jobs in the state, she said. Laura Jones, executive director of Milan Puskar Health Right, a free and charitable clinic in Morgantown, said the Medicaid cuts would have a 'profoundly negative effect' on the communities the clinic serves. 'We will have, once again, many people who lack health insurance,' Jones said. 'And while there are six free clinics in the state in somewhat strategic locations, there are many areas of the state where options for people without insurance are limited or nonexistent. 'People will resort back to using the emergency room for primary care, which is by far the most expensive way to provide care,' she said. 'Wait times at emergency departments will increase, and hospitals will be overwhelmed with uncompensated care yet again.' Jones' comments came during a virtual press conference about the Medicaid cuts Thursday hosted by the health care advocacy organization Protect Our Care. The group urged West Virginia Republicans Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Jim Justice to vote against the cuts when the Senate considers the legislation. 'Medicaid is a lifeline for West Virginia families, seniors, people with disabilities, low income adults and children,' Lynette Maselli, state director of Protect Our Care, said during the press conference. 'Today, nearly one in three West Virginians rely on Medicaid for their health care. Cuts to the program mean fewer doctor visits, fewer life saving prescriptions, and more families forced to choose between paying rent and affording care for providers. It means more uncompensated care, lower reimbursements, job losses and potentially even closures of medical centers.' The bill does not extend tax credits put in place under the Biden Administration that have helped approximately 50,000 West Virginians pay for their health care on the health insurance marketplace established by the Affordable Care Act. The tax credits are set to expire at the end of the year. Allen said the tax credits expiring is likely to mean 15,000 state residents will lose their health care because plans are no longer affordable. 'I think West Virginia would be among the state's most impacted, because we have the highest health care prices in the country,' she said. 'So those subsidies have made a huge difference in helping make prices more affordable.' The federal government has historically covered the entire cost of SNAP benefits, which help approximately 277,000 or one in six West Virginia residents get access to food. The state splits the cost of administering the program with the federal government. Under the bill that passed the House Thursday, the federal government would shift between 5 to 25% of the cost of SNAP benefits to state governments beginning in 2028. The amount a state pays would depend on its payment error rate. West Virginia would pay up at least $28 million and up to about $141 million, depending on the error rate, according to an analysis from the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities. '[$141 million is] more than West Virginia spends on child care, CPS workers and the Promise Scholarship combined,' Allen said. 'There's not a lot of flexibility in the state budget right now as we've seen. That almost certainly means state lawmakers would have to raise taxes, raise revenue or cut SNAP or other things that are currently being paid for through the state budget.' In addition to shifting the costs to the states, the proposal would expand a current work requirement for SNAP recipients. With some exceptions, able-bodied people up to age 54 who receive food benefits are required to work 80 hours a month or face a time limit on receiving SNAP assistance. Under the bill, those work requirements would be required through age 64. Parents of children age 7 and above, with some exceptions, would be subject to the work requirement. An estimated 80,000 West Virginia residents become subject to the work requirements or live in household with someone who does, Allen said. Amy Wolfe, executive director of the Charleston soup kitchen Manna Meal, said the cuts to food assistance would be devastating to the people her program serves. Wolfe estimates that at least 80% of Manna Meal clients get SNAP benefits. Her program helps families fill in the gaps that the SNAP program does not cover, she said. 'Millions of families could lose access to healthy foods that literally we need,' she said. 'These are the foods that we need to thrive, and we're going to cut that? I mean, we're talking children, seniors, people with disabilities, people without stable access to health care because of the Medicaid cuts — all of our local economies will be affected.' The bill also eliminates funding to SNAP-Ed, the educational arm of the SNAP program. In West Virginia, SNAP Ed supports the West Virginia University Extension program. Kristin McCartney, public health specialist and director of the SNAP education programs with WVU Extension, said the cuts would decimate staffing for the extension service, which currently has 40 staff educators in addition to administrative staff. 'There would probably only be enough funding for potentially, like half of that,' she told West Virginia Watch. The West Virginia Democratic Party condemned Moore and Miller's support for the bill, calling the legislation 'a massive tax giveaway to the ultra-wealthy that slashes essential services for working families across West Virginia.' In the statement, party vice chair Teresa Toriseva called the bill 'a disaster for West Virginians and a betrayal of the very people Moore and Miller were elected to represent.' Amelia Ferrell Knisely contributed to this story. 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Yahoo
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stories of the Week: April 13 through April 19
CLARKSBURG, – Here are some of the top stories this week on the WBOY 12News Facebook page. Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed the state's budget for Fiscal Year 2026, but he vetoed certain items. Rep. Riley Moore responded to criticism over photos he shared from his visit to a prison in El Salvador. More than 200 people attended a town hall meeting to discuss a proposed power plant in the Davis and Thomas area. Former WVU women's basketball player J.J. Quinerly was chosen in the WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings. A helicopter dropped 30,000 Easter eggs to children below at the Bridge Sports Complex. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
W.Va. Rep. Riley Moore gives El Salvador prison CECOT two thumbs up
Rep. Riley Moore, toured the El Salvador prison CECOT on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, and posted a photo of himself giving two thumbs up in front of prisoners on his X account. (Rep. Riley Moore X account) If a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives and third generation member of a political dynasty taking a selfie and posing with double thumbs up while dressed in his business casual in front of stripped down inmates in a foreign country as part of a PR campaign for a controversial and legally suspect American policy to send more individuals there sounds wrong, it is because it is. Rep. Riley Moore, took a trip away from his 2nd Congressional District of West Virginia and his Washington, D.C. office to El Salvador to get what is becoming a highly-sought photo-op for GOP members these days. Inside the CECOT prison with a background of caged inmates, Moore took a selfie, a posed picture with his thumbs up. To this he, or his social media intern, added two photos of inmates, a few lines about murderers and rapists, then, 'I leave now even more determined to support President Trump's efforts to secure our homeland' and posted it to his social media accounts. Not mentioned in the PR campaign is how CECOT is the lynchpin of El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele's political persona. Bukele's rise to power was on the promise to crack down on crime, which as president he has mercilessly done while incarcerating tens of thousands in the process. Filling up CECOT with 'brutal criminals, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles and terrorists' made him extremely popular. Which is step one in the dictator's playbook. The following steps came next. Bukele consolidated power and popularity by going after 'they' and 'them' and 'those' because how dare you quibble over due process and 'rights' for gang members. Then came ignoring laws, marching armed soldiers into the Legislative Assembly, and serving his current term in direct violation of the constitution with some good, old fashioned court packing to approve it. CECOT isn't just a prison; it's a symbol of taking care of a problem — extremely high crime — and also a living warning that the crime can return, and anyone who dares question the methods of keeping all that bad at bay will find themselves in the mass cells themselves. 'Without me, this' while pointing at the worst of the worst is the power hungry dictator's soundbite version of sine qua non. And far too often, as history shows again and again, it works. Easy to see why President Donald Trump is using CECOT as his tool of choice for the deportation policy he is pursuing. Bukele is walking proof of what history has shown again and again about responding to fear and how a strongman can capitalize on that fear. Immigration is Trump's highest polling issue, even as his numbers continue to slip on everything else. The rhetoric of the two leaders has plenty of overlap, with the ends of stopping criminals justifying the means. Even when the means are legally suspect and innocent people become collateral damage. Thus the military planes instead of commercial airliners, the highly-produced videos of the deportations and brutal intake into CECOT, the obstinance against any pushback legal, moral or otherwise. The bad has to be bad enough to excuse the bad of how it is being done to otherwise good people who would just say 'no, this is bad.' The answers to any challenge will mirror those of Trump and Bukele, the surrogates in the media, and the army of social media accounts all falling in line to the policy without bothering with those sticky little details like the law, due process, and unintended consequences. Daring to bring those issues up means you are with the bad people, not with the good people. Bukele, who openly brags about being 'the world's coolest dictator' understands that popularity on one big issue brings power over all other issues. Holding a Master's degree from National Defense University and having previously been a staffer for the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, it isn't that Moore doesn't know this background, or understand how dictatorships take hold, or couldn't have dug deeper into why the Trump Administration is using El Salvador. It is well within his purview to do a fact-finding trip on the process and policy. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee Moore is positioned to have more influence, should he choose to use it, than the average freshman representative normally would, even members whose aunts aren't the sitting senior U.S. Senator from the state represented. He just doesn't care. Moore chose to be at the front of the line of the PR campaign posing with thumbs up in a brutal foreign prison instead of using his elected office to ask the basic and self-evident question: why our president was using CECOT in the first place. Moore pinned to the top of his X account that seeing the 'brutal criminals, including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, and terrorists' leaves him 'even more determined to support President Trump's efforts.' The popularity of the policy to the base of his party is a path to his own future power, and why mess that up by bothering the electorate with lectures on laws and morals that go against their politically pliable feels? Moore wanted to tell all of us something very important about himself with that El Salvador selfie. Believe him. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Laid-off NIOSH workers continue protests for jobs and safety of U.S. workers
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — A group of protesters gathered near the NIOSH facility in Morgantown Wednesday afternoon after nearly 200 workers were laid off from the facility last week. Protesters marched along Chestnut Ridge Road from the office of U.S. Representative Riley Moore to the NIOSH building near the WVU Health Sciences Campus and Ruby Memorial Hospital. Protesters said that they are trying to bring people's attention to the issue of the lay-offs and that all the research and data collection from the Morgantown NIOSH Campus has been stopped. 'Everybody wants to cut waste, fraud and abuse, I am 100% behind that. NIOSH is not waste, fraud and abuse. You know, the work we do here at NIOSH helps protect American workers, and this is important stuff, and it feels like this work has just been thrown away without giving much thought to it, and that seems a tremendous shame to me,' laid-off NIOSH Biomedical Engineer Bill Lindsley said. PHOTOS: Protesters gather near Morgantown NIOSH after layoffs Many of the laid-off workers carried signs criticizing the cuts to jobs in mining health resources and coal mine safety research. Protestors also said that the protests are not just about the layoffs, but about the safety of coal miners and the U.S. workforce's safety in general. 'If we find Black Lung Disease in a miner, we can remove them from further exposure or reduce their exposure if they have evidence of Black Lung,' laid-off NIOSH Research Epidemiologist and Preston County resident Scott Laney said. 'Now we can't send the letters out to the miners telling them they have the right to transfer if they do have black lung. So, this is going to continue to progress this disease in these miners.' The Morgantown NIOSH facility had several hundred employees before the downsizing, and now only has about a dozen that are still employed. 'It is devastating because the research will just go away, I was telling my mom, she's a retired teacher, I said 'when you have a substitute teacher come in and take over, you hand over your curriculum, we have nothing to hand over, it's just going to stop,'' laid-off NIOSH Research Epidemiologist Cammie Chaumont Menendez said. Laid-off researchers at the protests said that there is data sitting on their desks at the NIOSH office not being analyzed that could benefit many Americans. Also, among the protesters were representatives from the American Federation of Government Employees. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
