In The News

West Virginia has joined a group of other states in a lawsuit aimed at overturning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently released power plant regulations, according to a press release. The 25-state suit asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to review and declare the regulations unlawful. “This rule strips the states of important discretion while using technologies that don’t work in the real world — this administration packaged this rule with several... Read More

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) recently joined three of her colleagues in requesting an update from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on how it is protecting the ability of international college athletes to exercise their rights to their name, image, and likeness (NIL) while retaining their status at American universities. “While many students have rightfully benefitted from these new opportunities, international college athletes and college athletic programs face a credible... Read More

Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R) and Joe Manchin (D) along with dozens of other U.S. Senators signed a letter addressed to the U.S. Postal Service asking them to pause changes to their processing and delivery network. In the letter addressed to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the USPS Board of Governors, they ask for the postal service to pause these changes under the “Delivering for America” plan until the Postal Regulatory Commission does a “comprehensive” study. The plan would consolidate... Read More

Senator Shelley Moore Capito grilled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief over final rules requiring coal-fired power plants in the United States to reduce 90% of their greenhouse pollution into the next decade. Capito, R-W.Va., posed her questions Wednesday during a meeting of the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee, where she is ranking member. EPA administrator Michael Regan was before the committee to discuss the agency’s budget proposal for the next fiscal... Read More

On May 7, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, joined a group of 81 bipartisan, bicameral colleagues to call on the U.S. Senate and House Armed Service Committees to reject a flawed proposal from the U.S. Air Force (USAF) intended for the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY 2025) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The proposal would transfer U.S. National Guard units performing space missions to the U.S. Space Force and waive governor... Read More

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed Wednesday the Pentagon has “paused” one weapons shipment to Israel, but claimed the US had not made a “final decision” on the materiel, angering – and baffling – Senate Republicans. “We did pause as we re-evaluated some of the security assistance that we’re providing,” Austin told members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during a hearing that was repeatedly interrupted by anti-Israel protesters. “As we have assessed the situation,”... Read More

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the most powerful Republican to push EPA for a drinking water limit for toxic “forever chemicals,” lambasted the Biden administration’s recently finalized regulation as unworkable and based on “the most extreme voices in the debate.” EPA issued the first ever national limits for the PFAS in April that gave utilities five years to eradicate any detectable levels of two of the chemicals PFOA and PFOS that were used for decades in a wide range of products. “The EPA had a... Read More

U.S. Senators Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., joined a bipatisan group of 21 of Senate colleagues on Wednesday in a letter to U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy calling on the United States Postal Service (USPS) to pause planned changes to its processing and delivery network that could slow down mail delivery until the potential impacts are further studied by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) and addressed by the Postal Service. The senators expressed concern over... Read More

CHARLESTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced resources from several federal agencies for projects intended to bolster health services, economic development, infrastructure, academic and defense research, park improvement efforts, and energy projects across West Virginia. One of those grants is $1,799,114 in Health and Human Services Health Center Cluster funding to WomenCare, Inc., in Scott Depot. Other area agencies receiving... Read More

WASHINGTON (WV News) — Now is the time for any student who has not yet filled out their 2024-25 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to do so, according to officials with the U.S. Department of Education. Following months of confusion and delays caused by technical issues with the newly redesigned FAFSA process, federal education officials on Tuesday said they are “determined to close the completion gap” on this year’s FAFSA filings. “We know that community organizations have spent... Read More

With the Mountain Valley Pipeline inching ever closer to its expected completion date at the end of the month, stakeholders and proponents of the project are breathing a sigh of relief. Since the 303-mile pipeline project was initially announced in 2014, West Virginia officials and business leaders have been celebrating its potential to create jobs, increase tax collections and serve as a conduit for moving the state’s abundant stores of natural gas to market. After years of stops and starts... Read More

The U.S. Department of Education has launched a multimillion-dollar program aimed at encouraging more students to complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms. The FAFSA Student Support Strategy will provide up to $50 million in funding to support organizations with demonstrated experience expanding college access and enrollment in the hopes of seeing more high school students complete a 2024-25 FAFSA, according to a press release. The funds will be prioritized for... Read More

West Virginia’s U.S. senators on Tuesday laid out their education-related concerns to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Dr. Miguel Cardona, including reports of antisemitism on college campuses and recent efforts to forgive student loans. Sens. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, each serve on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies, which held a hearing Tuesday regarding the department’s... Read More

We applaud Gov. Jim Justice for taking what steps were possible on the state level to help West Virginia students overcome the federally caused chaos with college financial aid. The federal government’s new application process has been a disaster, with technical issues slowing down what was already an often confusing and laborious process. Not only are the technical issues creating major delays, the process appears to be wrongfully sidelining some students’ applications, causing more... Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WV News) — Students throughout the country working to prepare for the fall semester are still feeling the impact of issues with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. A newly redesigned application process has for months been plagued by technical issues, leaving many still unclear about how much financial assistance they will be able to get to help pay for college. While the fixes to these issues are beginning to roll out, West Virginia officials continue to raise... Read More

Mountain Valley Pipeline, after years of conflict and cost increases, could go into service later this month. Equitrans Midstream, developer of the pipeline, expects to begin operations for MVP on May 31 as long as approval is granted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. A setback occurred last week as a section of the pipeline ruptured during pressure testing in Roanoke County, Virginia. “Inspectors investigating the complaint observed turbid water in the stream channels conveying the... Read More

Senate Republicans have introduced legislation to end the federal electric vehicle and charging stations tax credit. The Eliminating Lavish Incentives to Electric (ELITE) Vehicles Act — led by U.S. Senator John Barrasso, R-Wyoming — stops taxpayer money from subsidizing the purchase of luxury electric vehicles for high-income individuals and corporations, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., announced Friday. “There is no reason that U.S. taxpayers should be bankrolling luxury electric... Read More

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday that continued issues for families and students trying to submit the new form for federal aid to help with the costs of colleges and universities are catastrophic. Speaking Thursday afternoon on a virtual briefing with press from her offices at the U.S. Capitol Building, Capito said problems with the new Federal Application for Federal Student Aid are creating uncertainty for families in West Virginia and nationwide, blame she lays at the feet of... Read More

Reacting to protests on campuses across the country, President Joe Biden today said people have the right to free speech but not if it turns violent. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, during a briefing today, said the president’s remarks have come too late. “My question to him would be, where have you been?'” said Capito, R-W.Va. “We’ve seen violence break out on campuses all across the country — here in Washington at George Washington University’s campus, obviously Columbia, UCLA. “I think that... Read More

Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for higher education because of ongoing problems with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly called FAFSA. His declaration seemed to be a symbolic gesture about ongoing problems with the federal financial aid program as well as an approach to streamlining West Virginia’s part of the process. FAFSA has been rocked by frustrating delays and technical problems stemming from the rollout of a redesigned form intended to ask fewer... Read More