In The News

In a roughly three-minute-long opening statement in front of Senate appropriators, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona mentioned nearly every major issue in higher education today — except campus unrest. Only after Republican nudging did Cardona address the protests, encampments and antisemitism at campuses across the country and what his department is doing to support students. “You have more immediate means at your disposal. For instance, removing federal funds from institutions that get... Read More

Gov. Jim Justice on Tuesday declared a "state of emergency for education" in West Virginia, allowing high school students to collect state financial aid regardless of the status of their Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Changes in the FAFSA prompted a late rollout of the new form, pushing it back from October to January. Since then, there have been further processing delays and calculation errors, leaving students and families in limbo when it comes to financial aid. Many colleges have... Read More

President Biden's Education Secretary Miguel Cardona was grilled on Capitol Hill Tuesday on whether he would expedite Title VI investigations to possibly pull federal funding from universities riled with antisemitic protests.  During a Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing dedicated to discussing the president’s fiscal year 2025 budget request for the U.S. Department of Education, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., hammered Cardona on how Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits... Read More

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the Department of Education is working around the clock to make sure the FAFSA process improves, after major delays and a troubled roll out of the new financial aid form. “We’ve had delays, we’ve had issues with some of the coding that we had to make changes to,” Cardona said. Lawmakers grilled Sec. Cardona about the roll out during a hearing on Tuesday, just one day before May 1, which in normal circumstances is considered college decision day for many... Read More

President Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently unveiled a series of new regulations likely to devastate the American coal-power industry and turn out the lights by increasing costs, reducing the standard of living. Under the regulations, all coal-fired plants that are slated to remain operational in the long-term and all new baseload gas-fired plants will be required to effectively eliminate 90 percent of their carbon emissions, a wildly impractical target. “The administration... Read More

CHARLESTON — New regulations that could speed up the demise of coal-fired power plants in West Virginia and the nation raised the eyebrows of the state’s two U.S. Senators and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who has taken on federal environmental regulators successfully at the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new regulation Thursday morning that would require coal-fired power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emission by 90% by 2039, moving up a... Read More

MARLINTON — A Pocahontas County town will receive more than $1.5 million in federal funding for sewer system upgrades. A $1,525,000 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers CDS award to the Town of Marlinton was announced Monday by Sen . Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. Capito, ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for water and wastewater infrastructure... Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for water and wastewater infrastructure projects across West Virginia. These awards, which were secured through Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) requests made by Senator Capito and authorized through the Water Resources... Read More

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and U.S. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) are preparing to introduce a resolution in their respective chambers that opposes the Biden administration’s new emissions rules targeting existing coal plants and new gas plants. “With the latest iteration of the illegal Clean Power Plan 2.0, President Biden has inexplicably doubled down on his plans to shut down the backbone of America’s electric grid through unachievable regulatory mandates,” Sen. Capito said in an... Read More

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) traveled to Bridgeport, W.Va. where she participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony for the expansion of Aurora Flight Sciences at the Mid-Atlantic Aerospace Complex near the North Central West Virginia Airport. Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing Company, advances the future of flight by developing and applying innovations across the aerospace industry. This expansion will add nearly 50,000 square feet of space and grow their... Read More

Federal funding was announced Monday for eight new water projects across West Virginia. U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee and a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, announced funding from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The town of Davey in McDowell County will receive a $1 million USACE Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) award for phase... Read More

At a time when state and national reports are showing the need for more power generation, the U.S. EPA’s release of new rules regarding coal-fired power plants, as well as gas-fired plants, is not only ill-timed but ill-conceived. The new rules are “to protect all communities from pollution and improve public health without disrupting the delivery of reliable electricity,” according to an EPA press release. Again, as we’ve noted in the past, a worthy goal. But as the demand for electricity... Read More

Bipartisan legislation recently cosponsored by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) aims to provide more Americans with life-saving treatment during an opioid overdose by enacting certain liability protections for Good Samaritans. Sen. Capito on April 11 introduced the Samaritan Efforts to Ensure Key Health Emergency and Life-saving Protections (SEEK HELP) Act, S. 4112, alongside bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) to provide protections from prosecution for drug possession to individuals... Read More

A bill that would make the vetting process tougher for rural broadband telecoms trying to get their hands on Federal Communications Commission-provided high-cost subsidies may advance Wednesday if all goes well during committee.It's the second time Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., have introduced the Rural Broadband Protection Act, which they say will help make sure that only carriers who can provide the connectivity rural Americans need can get funding from the... Read More

West Virginia is among the first three states to be approved to start accessing millions of federal dollars for broadband expansion. The upshot is West Virginia can soon begin drawing down $1.2 billion to deploy high-speed internet networks for a region where connectivity has been an uphill battle. “This means West Virginia is another step closer to using our $1.2 billion towards efforts to better-connect homes, business and classrooms across the state,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito,... Read More

State officials and energy industry stakeholders are circling the wagons, putting their heads together and trying to determine the best course of action to challenge the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recently announced power plant regulations. The new suite of rules, which coal industry advocates say are specifically designed to force coal-fired electrical generation facilities to close down, are likely to face a torrent of legal challenges and could become an important factor in the... Read More

CHARLESTON — New regulations that could speed up the demise of coal-fired power plants in West Virginia and the nation raised the eyebrows of the state’s two U.S. Senators and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who has taken on federal environmental regulators successfully at the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a new regulation Thursday morning that would require coal-fired power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emission by 90% by 2039, moving up a... Read More

Elected leaders across Virginia and West Virginia as well as the nation’s capitol spoke out Thursday and denounced new EPA regulations aimed at reducing air emissions by pushing for the closure of coal-fired and gas-fired power plants. The new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s latest effort to roll back pollution from the power sector, a contributor to climate change, according to the Associated Press. President Joe Biden has... Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of both the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Appropriations Committees, and Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released the below statement regarding the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) approval of the state’s Volume II Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. West Virginia is now the... Read More

West Virginia received great news Thursday as officials learned that the state’s plan for using $1.2 billion allocated for broadband expansion has been approved. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) approved West Virginia’s Volume II Initial Proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. West Virginia now will be able to start drawing down the funding designed to push broadband access further into rural parts of the Mountain State. Much... Read More