WASHINGTON — The $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill proposed by the Biden Administration is “outrageous,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

Capito said during a virtual press conference Thursday the “social and human infrastructure” package the Democrats are pushing for will cause more inflation.

“We have no idea what it is,” she said of the proposal, details of which have not been fully revealed. “It is an outrageous amount of money.”

Capito said the price of necessities like gasoline, groceries and cars as well as “all kinds of things” are already going up.

Higher prices hurt everyone, she said, but that is what happens when the government keeps “flushing money into the economy and causing some very undesirable effects.”

“I know what high inflation can do to a family budget,” she said, referring to the high inflation rates in the early 1980s.

Spending that took place during the pandemic last year was “for the most part essential,” she said, and kept businesses afloat and people with an income.

But the economy is growing, and there are now more jobs, but not enough people.

“Now is the time to put the brakes on it (more federal dollars) and let the economy grow on its own rather than flooding it with money,” she said.

Capito was also critical of the way money being sent to public school systems is handled, with another round of $245 million going to West Virginia schools.

She met with school superintendents recently and said they have been getting “a lot of money” and are trying to put together committees to figure out how to spend it.

But to Capito, the process is reversed.

“You assess the needs, then give the money,” she said. “Look at the needs first, then you look at what you have to spend.”

Capito is also concerned about any green energy components of the package and the impact on fossil fuels.

“I am very, very concerned about the impact that bill will have on our state,” she said of the coal and natural gas industries. “I am going to fight like heck to make sure that doesn’t happen…”

But Capito did say the bipartisan core infrastructure plan is “still alive.”

“I want to do that,” she said of the almost $1 trillion package providing money for roads and bridges, rail, broadband and other basic infrastructure needs. “Right now, the latest is they are going to miss the deadline for having the bill in place … quite frankly, it’s complicated.”

Capito said one of the more complicated points is how to pay for it, with possible increased enforcement of IRS payments, an option, but that is a “difficult pathway” because of past misuse of the IRS.

Another issue the Senator addressed is the “major crisis” at the southern border, with 180,000 migrants apprehended last month, the most ever.

That number is increasing, she said, and although100,000 of the adults were turned away, that could change if the Biden Administration allows Title 42 to expire.

Title 42 was put into place at the border in April 2020 to bar adults from entering the United States because of the pandemic. Children were accepted though and that in itself caused major issues.

“I think the Biden Administration is failing miserably here because they have no plan,” she said.

If Title 42 is no longer used, COVID, especially the more dangerous Delta variant, could cross the border.

In Guatemala, the vaccine rate is only 1 percent, she said, and that could pose a real health issue.

“Keep this (Title 42) in place until we know the pandemic is well under control…” she said, adding that a plan of how to handle the border crisis must be in place as well.

Vice President Kamala Harris visited the border and gave a speech discouraging migrations to the border, but Capito said it was “ineffective.”

“There is no plan here, there is no deterrent,” she said, and Harris’ words had no impact.

“It’s just a mess,” Capito said. “The lack of planning is astounding.”

The border crisis impacts West Virginia as well, she added, because of drugs, especially fentanyl, crossing the border.

Overdose deaths have soared, she said. and more people and more drugs are crossing the border with interdiction lacking.

“It is shattering to me,” she said of a 29 percent in drug overdoses during the pandemic last year. “I see what it does to to families and friends and mostly young lives snuffed out in the grip of addiction.”

Capito said the pandemic had a “huge, harmful” impact on statistics because progress was being made.

What is needed now, she said, is a combination of community responses, parents coming out and telling stories, and a variety of long-term treatment methods.

“We need this continuum of care (to stop addicts from returning to drugs after rehab),” she said.

Capito also discussed the issue of equal pay for female athletes who participate in the Olympics or in competition representing the US.

The controversy surfaced related to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, which has won four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals yet players receive less money than their less successful male counterparts.

“Equal pay should be the rule of the day,” she said, when men and women compete under the American Flag. “I can’t believe anyone would be opposed to that.”

Capito also said she is for equal pay for equal work for women in all areas of the workforce.