Sen. Shelley Moore Capito on Thursday shared her support for passage of the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, noting how she believes it will save West Virginians money and help offset cuts to Medicaid.

Capito said that in addition to preventing an incomes tax hike, she’s appreciative that the bill increases the child tax credit, increases the standard deduction and eliminates tax on tips and overtime for some workers.

“For seniors, there’s a $6,000 deduction that can be taken in a certain income area so that their savings and Social Security are not heavily taxed,” Capito said. “This is all good news for West Virginia. It’s thousands of dollars in West Virginia’s pocketbook, and had we not passed this bill, all of that would have cost our West Virginia families. ... We know that other aspects of the bill (regarding) our national security, homeland security and energy production are exceedingly important, too.”

President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on July 4.

Capito added that the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion inclusion to the bill, should further health care access in rural areas of the state and help offset some of the nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid in the bill, though she added that she didn’t know by how much.

“We’re talking with (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator) Dr. Oz’s team daily to find out the exact impact to West Virginia, but it will be millions and millions of dollars,” Capito said. “There have been questions as to whether that will cover all of the shortfall. That still remains a question, but we’re going to work hard. ...

“Part of it comes out of a formula and part of it from a grant program, so we need to make sure we’re teed up as a state to apply for those dollars, because we certainly need them. We need the access, the availability and the affordability of our rural hospitals and the good care they deliver.”

Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced Wednesday that the state is putting together a task force to determine the best use of the Rural Health Transformation Program’s funding, which will be meted out to states over the next five years.

Capito also said during her Thursday press conference that she has been in constant contact with FEMA regarding a potential emergency declaration in Ohio County after a deadly flash flood that occurred in June.

She said she was “frustrated” that the declaration hasn’t already been made, but noted that she believes the declaration will be coming “very, very soon.”