Capito: Rush to eliminate fossil fuels another 'Bidenomics' woe

As millions of Americans still struggle with the high cost of food, gas and other basic necessities, Republicans are intensifying their attack on “Bidenomics.”

During her weekly virtual briefing, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said the administration’s rush to eliminate natural gas, oil and coal is another example of how Bidenomics is causing real economic harm to Americans.

“How are you going to replace coal and gas as a power source? You don’t like nuclear either so we can’t run on wind or solar here,” Capito said. “There is a whole disconnect of realism here.”

The veteran West Virginia lawmaker said Biden’s continuing push for all electric vehicles is an example of the administration’s disconnect with reality.

“I mean can people buy electric vehicles? Yes they can,” Capito said. “That can be an option. They are going to pay more. They don’t go as far. They are less reliable in cold weather. And in West Virginia as I look at it some of the ways that our folks live whether you are in agriculture or in the more rural areas, an electric vehicle is going to be very difficult to maintain and suit your wishes. So I say let the free market ride here and make those decisions. We don’t even have the charging station infrastructure to be able to keep pushing this.”

Capito said the Biden administration fails to understand that it takes time to transition from traditional fossil fuels to clean energy.

“If we are going to make a transition that’s fine, but let’s get real here and not raise people’s home heating and air condition bills, raise gasoline prices, raise the cost of materials,” Capito said. “Let’s do this in a way that is sensible. We’ve seen Europe do this and look at what’s happened. They are now restarting their nuclear and restarting their coal plants because they realize they weren’t realistic — their goals. I don’t want to see that happening to us.”

Biden, who is seeking re-election as president in 2024, is using the term Bidenomics to promote what he calls a robust national economy. However, Republicans say the slogan Bidenomics instead stands for continued high inflation, high food prices, high gas prices and high electric bills.

“And that is simply what is happening at home,” Capito said. “Every time someone goes to the grocery store they are feeling it. And if he wants to call it Bidenomics he is taking responsibility for what is a very uncertain economic atmosphere. Our wages have not kept up with inflation.”

Capito said under Bidenomics electric bills have increased, the cost of gasoline has increased, the cost of good has increased and mortgage prices and interest rates are up.

“You pay more and get less,” she said in defining Bidenomics.

Capito said recent polls have shown more than 50 percent of the nation believes America is moving in the wrong direction.

“And so that tells you Bidenomics is not having a good effect on wage earners across this country,” she said.

In terms of nuclear energy, Capito says it is needed — despite opposition to it from the Biden administration.

Capito, the ranking member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, said she worked to include the ADVANCE Act in the newly released version of the Senate’s National Defense Authorization Act. The measure seeks to boost nuclear energy in America.

“I was able to achieve what I think is a really good victory for West Virginia’s interest in nuclear power, and that was to get the ADVANCE act, my ADVANCE Act, into the the bill, which will help with deployments of nuclear technologies around the world and also incentive investments, research and innovation in nuclear,” she said. “There is also a part of the ADVANCE act, which I think has great implications for West Virginia in that it incentives the reuse of old power facilities and the transmissions there. We are seeing this going on in Wyoming as well, and we know some visitors in West Virginia have looked at retired coal plants mainly to see if they can repurpose for nuclear. So small nuclear units are coming, they are going to licensed and we want West Virginia to be a part of that.”