In The News

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and five other Republicans introduced legislation yesterday to roll back implementation of U.S. EPA's new ozone standard and overhaul the broader system for updating air quality benchmarks. The bill, S. 2882, is a companion to Texas Republican Rep. Pete Olson's H.R. 4775 introduced in response to arguments from businesses and elected officials that the new 70-parts-per-billion ozone standard is impossible to meet in some areas. In the face of a "never-ending... Read More

West Virginian Jessie Grubb fought a long battle against opioid addiction. She nearly won. But the 30-year-old woman fell through one of the many cracks in how we Americans handle substance abuse, and it killed her. During a town hall meeting on substance abuse last fall in Charleston, President Barack Obama heard Grubb's story from her father. For seven years, the Charleston man explained, his daughter had battled addiction to opioids. By last fall she seemed to have made dramatic progress. But... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The story of Jessie Grubb's battle with heroin addiction changed the president's perception of the opioid epidemic. And though the 30-year-old's tragic overdose shortly thereafter may have closed a chapter, Jessie's story does not end with her death. On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., introduced Jessie's Law, a bill that would require a patient's addiction history to be prominently displayed on their medical records with... Read More

Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito Wednesday introduced “Jessie’s Law,” legislation that will help ensure medical professionals have full knowledge of a patient’s previous opioid addiction when consent is given. The law is named for Jessie Grubb, who battled addiction for seven years. After becoming sober, she focused on making a life for herself in Michigan. As she was training for a marathon, she suffered a running-related injury which required surgery. Her... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Former state Senator David Grubb says his daughter’s short life can help save many lives with a measure soon to be introduced in Congress called “Jessie’s Law.” Grubb and his wife appeared with U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito for a news conference Wednesday afternoon on Capitol Hill to talk about the proposal that will open lines of communication between health care professionals who are treating those who have... Read More

U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito stopped in Hedgesville to spotlight a unique program that uses bee-keeping to help veterans with post-traumatic stress. Capito visited Geezer Ridge Farm in Hedgesville Monday. The farm is home to thousands of honey producing bees, and gives community members and veterans a chance to learn about bee-keeping. For many of those veterans the practice is also a form of therapy. Geezer Ridge is one of six apiaries in West Virginia working with the West... Read More

BACK CREEK VALLEY — Eric Grandon and Nick Priet have a lot in common, even though they haven't known each other too long. Both combat veterans, they suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had found it hard to move forward in civilian life - until they each discovered the magic of bees. Tending bees has not only given them a sense of peace, there's another benefit, since beekeeping also is a viable way to make a living.Simply stated, now they both have a reason to live, and hope for... Read More

One provision in a massive bill approved by the U.S. Senate raises the question of whether lawmakers are just wasting their time in attempting to put the nation on an "all-of-the-above" energy footing. Never mind that the measure, passed in an 85-12 vote, has wide, bipartisan support. The question is whether, even if it is enacted, President Barack Obama will abide by it. Something for virtually everyone is included in the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015. It would help the "renewables"... Read More

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va – Sen. Shelley Moore Capito met with veterans and VA officials Monday morning at the Geezer Ridge farm to see how the program "West Virginia Warriors and Veterans to Agriculture" is working in her state. “Well, what I'm interested in is helping our veterans who have laid their lives on the line, and many of them have come home with PTSD and other mental health issues, and we're trying to figure out the best therapies," Capito said. The program allows vets to take... Read More

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. — The “hum” of a honeybee hive is therapy for 20-year U.S. Army veteran Eric Grandon. “There’s no anxiety, no depression, there’s no mindlessness. It’s all focused on the bees and what I’m doing with the bees,” the 50-year-old Clay County, W.Va., man said Monday at Geezer Ridge Farm near Hedgesville. The farm in Back Creek Valley, which is owned by Ed and Cheryl Forney, is involved with West Virginia Warriors and Veterans... Read More

A trio of Appalachian lawmakers want to "level the playing field" for American steel as imports threaten 150,000 mostly Appalachian jobs. "The Steel Industry Preservation Act" was introduced yesterday as the United States and other nations turn up the pressure on China to end its steel subsidies. Chinese smelters continue to flood the market with cheap steel despite collapsing prices. Struggling to compete, American steel manufacturers have slashed thousands of jobs in states like Pennsylvania,... Read More

A bipartisan energy bill that passed the U.S. Senate Wednesday included millions of dollars in funding for coal technology research. The Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016, which had bi-partisan support, adopts an extensive package of provisions updating the country's energy policy for the first time in nearly a decade. Sen. Joe Manchin had four provisions placed in the bill which, his office said, promote an all-of-the-above energy policy.The provisions would keep coal competitive with... Read More

Though the U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a stay on the Environmental Protection Agency's vicious Clean Power Plan, Administrator Gina McCarthy continues to follow her marching orders from President Barack Obama and ignore the court's ruling. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., asked McCarthy this week why the agency's budget requests still include $50 million for implementation of a rule the highest court in the land said should not move forward. "There's $25 million for the EPA to continue to... Read More

The U.S. Senate Tuesday approved a bill which could continue to fund a more than $5 million subsidy to the Raleigh County Memorial Airport, allowing it to continue offering commercial services to area fliers. By a vote of 95-3, the U.S. Senate approved the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2016, which protects air services to rural communities in West Virginia through the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. On Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives version of the bill was still in the... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Both U.S. senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito are applauding a comprehensive energy bill passed by the Senate Wednesday. The Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015 had bipartisan support. “It is critical for our country to establish an all-of-the-above energy portfolio that includes all of our domestic resources and to face the fact that coal will play an integral role in producing our electricity for decades to come,” Manchin said in a news... Read More

In the wake of a nationwide campaign to get students and young adults into the science, technology, engineering and math fields — commonly referred to as “STEM,” West Virginia University is slated to receive nearly $300,000 to support research on why students leave STEM majors, and how to keep them on board. The $299,985 National Science Foundation grant will fund the university’s  “STEM-R: Modeling STEM Retention and Departure across Physics, Mathematics, and... Read More

As chairwoman of the Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito has a relatively small sum at her disposal - $4.4 billion for fiscal 2017 - at least compared to other appropriations subcommittees. But it's still a plum assignment for a freshman senator, and one that the West Virginia Republican doesn't take lightly. Her panel has jurisdiction over the congressional campus, which includes the Capitol Police, an institution with hefty responsibilities that has... Read More

Far too many incidents of sexual assault or harassment go unreported each year, and the report rates are even lower on college campuses. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates about 30 percent of rapes and sexual assaults involving women 18-25 - the age group with the highest rate of incidents - are reported each year. But for the women that age enrolled on a college campus, the report rate is even lower, about 20 percent. Certainly, the stigmas victims face contribute to that reluctance to... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A decision by Canadian Pacific Railway to back off an attempted takeover of Norfolk Southern Railroad drew the praise of West Virginia’s congressional delegation Tuesday. “The executives at Canadian Pacific Railway recoiled after we exposed their history of cutting jobs to increase investor profits,” U.S. Senator Manchin said in a prepared statement. “I am pleased that we have been able to shed some light on the potentially devastating... Read More

United States Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is among 20 senators co-sponsoring a bill intended to honor emergency responders killed in the line of duty. The Fallen Heroes Flag Act would provided U.S. flags that have been flown over the U.S. Capitol to the families of firefighters, police officers, members of rescue squads or ambulance crews and other public safety officers who have been killed while on the job, according to a news release issued Friday, April 8. The bipartisan bill was... Read More