West Virginia’s leaders have worked hard to boost the economy, including attracting foreign investments. In the late 1900s and early 2000s, Democratic Senator Robert C. Byrd brought more than $1 billion in federal funds and many federal projects to the state. By the mid-1990s, the state’s economy was showing some signs of improvement, except for a national recession in the late 1990s. From 1988 to 1997, the state’s budget more than doubled, growing from about $3.3 billion to $7 billion.