In The News

MORGANTOWN – Sen. Shelley Moore Capito talked with members of the West Virginia press on Thursday about vaccine mandates, voting rights bills, lessons to be learned from GOP victories and near victories in Tuesday’s elections, and other topics.   OSHA published its long-awaited vaccine mandate rule on Thursday. It applies to employers with 100 or more employees and has a Jan. 4 deadline – the same as prior mandates the Biden administration issued for health care workers... Read More

President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday reminded Americans it has not let off the … lithium-ion battery? when it comes to damaging rules and regulations. The EPA announced a proposed effort to tighten methane regulations for the oil and gas sector, which for the first time targets reductions from existing oil and gas wells nationwide, instead of only new wells.If finalized, the proposed requirements would reduce methane emissions from U.S. drilling operations... Read More

WEST VIRGINIA (WDVM) — West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito is taking aim at President Biden’s and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s federal vaccine mandate for private businesses with 100 or more employees.   In a press conference on Thursday, she stated that the United States will face a labor crisis. She believes that the federal government should not be able to tell private businesses about the rules or parameters they should be setting... Read More

WASHINGTON (WV News) — A recently passed Senate bill could lead to the use of security cameras inside VA health care facilities, according to Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. The Senate-approved bill, which passed the House earlier this year, is sponsored by fellow West Virginia Republicans Representatives David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Carol Miler and is companion legislation to the Senate version.   Speaking with reporters Thursday, Capito said the bill was drafted in response to... Read More

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said Thursday she “deeply rejects” President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for large businesses.   The mandate is scheduled to take effect Jan. 4, Biden said Thursday, and impacts businesses with 100 or more employees. It is administered through OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and employees will either have to be fully vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid-19 and wear a mask at work.   “I don’t want... Read More

The highest-ranking Republicans on nine Senate committees are pressing Biden administration officials to detail long-awaited recommendations from an inter-agency working group (IWG) on how the federal agencies should use of the social cost of carbon (SCC) metric, alleging an “opaque decision-making process on the issue.”   A Nov. 4 letter from the lawmakers responds to a Biden executive order (EO) from early this year that set a September deadline for a revived IWG to... Read More

Environment and energy earmarks are big winners in this year’s Senate fiscal 2022 bills, with more than 20 percent of all congressionally directed spending riding on two appropriations measures.   Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) would get nearly $270 million in earmarks, including one for a PFAS treatment system. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) would get $260 million, including one for a dredging project. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) would get $247 million, including $22 million... Read More

FIRST ON FOX: Top Republican senators are demanding that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provide a detailed accounting of all the carbon emissions spewed by President Biden and political appointees due to travel to Glasgow, Scotland, for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).Sens. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., sent a letter Tuesday to the GAO's Comptroller General Gene Dodaro asking for the total... Read More

WASHINGTON (WV News) — A total of $1 million from NASA’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program will be headed to West Virginia University.The funding will be distributed over the next five years and will be used to support the implementation of the West Virginia Research Infrastructure Development Project, which will focus on building the core strength needed to develop competitive research and technology development methods and activities for the... Read More

CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WV News) — Nearly 11 months after the announcement of more than $360 million in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund auction program awards for broadband projects in West Virginia, companies eagerly await the final approvals necessary to begin the work to expand gigabit-level broadband service to more rural residents.The Federal Communications Commission announced the winning 180 bidders in phase one of the program for $9.2 billion in broadband expansion funds over 10... Read More

HUNTINGTON — Marshall University officially launched its newly formed Institute for Cyber Security (ICS) on Oct. 13 in the Weisberg Applied Engineering Complex.“This is a partnership between WVU and others in the federal government to create opportunities in cybersecurity,” said Marshall President Jerome Gilbert.Gilbert said the institute is an academic and research cluster that will support cybersecurity-related programs across the campus, drawing on personnel —... Read More

HUNTINGTON — Brad Smith, the former Intuit executive who spearheaded the company’s move to bring offices to Bluefield, has been named president of Marshall University.The Marshall Board of Governors announced the decision Thursday and the West Virginia native and Marshall alumnus will take over the reins of the university in January.Smith headed the Intuit team who came to Bluefield in March 2019 to announce the giant, California-based information technology company was creating a... Read More

WASHINGTON (WV News) — It’s “frustrating” to see the physical infrastructure bill she helped develop languishing in the House of Representatives while Democrats debate a social spending bill, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said Thursday during a virtual press conference.Capito, who was among the initial principal architects of what became the nearly $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, said the bill has been before the House for more than a... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WSAZ) – The United States Senate confirmed Dr. Rahul Gupta as Director of National Drug Control Policy on a bipartisan basis.Gupta, a former Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Director and West Virginia Health Officer, is the first medical doctor to ever lead the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.“As a practicing physician and former health official who has served in rural communities, I have seen firsthand the heartbreaking toll of addiction and... Read More

With the exception of those hardy families who stubbornly hold out as long as possible before turning on the heat for the season, many of us have probably at least considered flipping the switch by now. Nights in the lower 40s will do that. If recent reports are accurate, keeping that heat on is going to be more expensive this year.According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency’s Winter Fuels Outlook, an increase in average heating prices is forecast this winter for all parts of the... Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed the nomination of Dr. Rahul Gupta as the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.Gupta most recently served as the senior vice president and chief medical and health officer at the March of Dimes. He oversaw the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department from March 2009 to December 2014 and served as state health officer from January 2015 to November 2018.Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.,... Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The confirmation of former state Health Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta as the new director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy received widespread praise from a variety of West Virginia officials Friday.Gupta, who was nominated by President Joe Biden and then confirmed by the U.S. Senate Thursday, will be the first medical doctor to serve as the nation’s drug czar.“It should have been that long, long, ago,” Gov. Jim Justice said... Read More

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. (WDTV) – The annual game raised a record amount of money for breast cancer patients and survivors in a friendly matchup between members of Congress and the press.U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and members of Team Congress played against members of the Washington, D.C. press corps in the 2021 Congressional Women’s Softball Game Wednesday evening.The annual charity game raised more than $508,000, a new record, for the Young Survivor Coalition,... Read More

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Democrats in the U.S. Congress are working on passing two measures considered key parts of President Joe Biden’s agenda after Biden on Thursday unveiled a slimmed-down framework on social programs.Biden’s announcement of a $1.75 trillion proposal followed discussions involving the Biden administration, congressional leaders and Democrats regarding a $3.5 trillion plan. Biden and others have been trying to unite Democrats — including West... Read More

MORGANTOWN – Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., fielded questions from members of the West Virginia press Thursday. Several of them dealt with the newly scaled-down Build Back Better framework and ongoing inflation under the Biden administration.She started off noting some issues raised during Wednesday’s GOP leadership press conference. Among them, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts a slightly colder winter than last year and significantly higher home heating... Read More