In The News

Babies who come into the world addicted to drugs such as heroin suffer the incredible pain of withdrawal, along with potential ill health later in life - because their mothers could not or would not deal with their own substance abuse. It happens all too frequently - 79 times this year in West Virginia. And other than finding ways to help the little ones get through their first weeks of life in withdrawal, not much is done about the problem. Of course, pregnant women are urged to stop smoking,... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced legislation last week to help prevent opioid overdose deaths. The Co-prescribing Saves Lives Act encourages physicians to co-prescribe the life-saving drug naloxone alongside opioid prescriptions and by making naloxone more widely available in federal health settings. It will also enable more health professionals to get naloxone, an antidote for opioid overdoses, into homes of people who... Read More

The federal government would have to establish guidelines for training doctors in prescribing opioids and increasing the use of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, under a new bill co-sponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito. The bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop training guidelines that would apply to all federal health care facilities, of which there are dozens scattered around West Virginia. Training guidelines would also apply to doctors at Veterans Health... Read More

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. – Google's online safety roadshow traveled to Warm Springs Middle School in Berkeley Springs Monday to teach kids how to stay safe and secure on the Internet. For the first time, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito visited the school to show her support of the students and the program. The event, Good to Know School Roadshow, focuses on how to create a safe and memorable password, identifying scams and how to have a positive experience when... Read More

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced bipartisan legislation last week to help prevent opioid overdose deaths by encouraging physicians to co-prescribe the life-saving drug naloxone alongside opioid prescriptions and by making naloxone more widely available in federal health settings. The Co-prescribing Saves Lives Act will enable more health professionals to get naloxone, a safe and effective antidote to opioid... Read More

WHEELING - Area members of Congress roundly condemned President Barack Obama's decision Friday to block construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline after seven years of review. Although their statements expressed little surprise at Obama's decision, foreshadowed by comments the president made as a bill approving the pipeline made its way through Congress in January, local lawmakers said the project - for which TransCanada applied in September 2008, when George W. Bush was still president -... Read More

MARTINSBURG - Although a bill to block the EPA's and Army of Corps of Engineers' Waters of the United States rule failed in the U.S. Senate, Cam Tabb is pleased with the effort. "I'm tickled to death - for a change, someone was working for our interests, and it was a nonpartisan effort - that's great," Tabb said Thursday in a telephone interview. His family has farmed in Jefferson County for several generations and he has been an outspoken opponent of the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS,... Read More

VIENNA - Three projects in Vienna have been given the go ahead after the city received more than $89,000 from the community development block grant program. Mayor Randy Rapp said city officials were informed they were awarded the money last month and the projects to be completed with the funds have been approved. "One of the projects where we will use the funds will be to pave the parking lot at the senior citizens center," Rapp said Thursday. "That program has grown and they need more parking... Read More

It is possible for U.S. senators to put the good of their political parties aside and do the right thing for Americans. Look at Sens. Shelley Capito, R-W.Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. According to the political rulebook, they should be at each other's throats much of the time. But no, they are on the same side frequently, fighting for the people of West Virginia. That is the glaring exception rather than the rule on Capitol Hill, unfortunately. Earlier this week, a bill to block the proposed... Read More

WASHINGTON – West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin were among those U.S. senators who, on Tuesday, voted in favor of a measure that would effectively kill the Environmental Protection Agency’s new “Waters of the United States” rule. The Senate voted 53-44, passing a resolution of disapproval to nullify the rule, which extends the federal agency’s authority to all bodies of water, no matter the size or frequency. The rule was published in the... Read More

The city of Beckley was awarded more than $277,000 this week, the second phase of funding aimed at improving low and moderate income neighborhoods.U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito made the announcement. The funds come from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grants program.“Investments that improve our neighborhoods and revitalize our communities are important to cities like Beckley,” Manchin, the state’s senior... Read More

“Just this morning, nearly 200 West Virginia coal miners in Randolph County were informed that their jobs would be gone by Christmas,” Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito lamented last Tuesday as she discussed the bipartisan resolution of disapproval that she and Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota had introduced in response to the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed Clean Power Plan regulations for existing power sources. “Think about how those families... Read More

Without a doubt, President Barack Obama is in the phase of his presidency that he would like to solidify his legacy. The president is in the downhill stretch of his presidency ... a time when many presidents finish up old political business, issue questionable pardons and start planning a location for their Presidential Library. Apparently one of those business-finishing chores on the president’s plate is to do away with coal as an energy source and building material for civilization. The... Read More

Swift, decisive action has enabled President Barack Obama to shove Congress aside on several issues about which the will of the people should rule - by the design put in place by our nation's founders. Now, the president may have met his match. This week Sen. Shelley Capito, R-W.Va., introduced a resolution of disapproval regarding the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed new limits on carbon emissions for existing power plants. Also this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,... Read More

This week West Virginia senators introduced separate disapproval measures to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions rules, which they said would be harmful to the Mountain State. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act concerning the EPA’s new coal-fired plants rule, which he described as “anti-coal.” The resolution, which was introduced with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.,... Read More

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito vocalized her reasons on the Senate floor for the bipartisan resolution of disapproval she and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp introduced for the EPA's proposed Clean Power Plan regulations for existing power sources. Capito (R.-W.Va.), spoke Tuesday as part of a colloquy with Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Environmental and Public Works Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Steve... Read More

Three of West Virginia’s top elected officials are each taking a smart approach in response to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which will severely restrict the use of coal in power production. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced he is leading a coalition of 24 states in a lawsuit, asking a federal court to strike down the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, which he believes unlawfully expands the federal government’s regulatory... Read More

Nearly half of the U.S. Senate supports a resolution to challenge the Obama administration's regulation cutting carbon emissions from power plants, the core of the United States' broader climate change strategy, sponsors of the measure said on Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, backed a resolution introduced on Monday night by Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito and Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp disapproving of the Environmental Protection Agency's... Read More

Female soldiers serving at Guantanamo Bay are not being allowed to transport inmates following a court order issued in response to prisoners who complained on religious grounds, according to Republican senators who recently returned from a visit to the prison camp. Inmates apparently complained the female soldiers' actions were an insult to their Islamic faith, but the senators blasted the court decision as an "insult to women." Top U.S. military leaders agreed the directive is "outrageous,"... Read More

A bipartisan group of senators opposed to the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new climate rule for power plants said Tuesday they’ll push forward with resolutions to undo it despite a certain veto from President Obama. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) led a group of members in introducing two Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions against new rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions on new and existing power plants. On Tuesday, he called the rules an... Read More