WASHINGTON, D.C. (WV News) — In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito shared her distaste for “Bidenomics,” as well as the halting of construction work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline by a federal court in Richmond.
Despite Congress moving jurisdiction over the pipeline from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit — located in Richmond — to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the former still released two rulings earlier this week to stop work on the project, which aims to transport natural gas around 300 miles from West Virginia to Virginia.
On Thursday afternoon, Capito said that she’s very disappointed with the ruling.
“I am seriously, totally astounded that the politicized circuit court would come in when Congress has spoken,” Capito said. “We spoke loud and clear. ... All of their OKs and permits have been issued. They should be moving ahead with hiring the thousands of West Virginians who are going to complete this. ...”
“Instead, here we are again in judicial ping pong. This activist court has got to be stopped. ... The Fourth Circuit has shown more than a few times in this process that they are working an agenda here. ... They’re obviously opposed to this, and they’re working a political agenda. ... I think we’ll see a challenge of the stay in the Supreme Court ... and I think it will be successful.”
Capito also tackled “Bidenomics,” a nickname for President Joe Biden’s economic plan that the president has been using since a speech in late June. When using the term, Biden has spoken about moving away from trickle-down economics and instead looking into higher taxes for the wealthy and devoting more resources to directly supporting middle and lower class Americans.
However, Capito said Thursday that she sees more bad in Biden’s plan than good, especially in terms of how it will affect West Virginians, calling it “troubled winds.”
“Basically, Bidenomics for me is you pay more and get less, and I think that’s the bottom line here,” Capito said. “The president touts that inflation has gone down, which it has, but it’s still too high. We see the cost of supplies and other things that are really hampering our economy. New projects are slower and more expensive. Bidenomics to me is problematic, and if you look at the statistics, over 70% of people, according to a recent study, have said that they are not optimistic that we’re going on the right track. ...
“I think it shows a disconnect by the White House. I think they’re going to regret labeling this particular economic environment as Bidenomics. They’re tying the president to everything that happens economically here. ... Housing prices are going up. Electricity prices are going up. Gasoline prices are going up. The White House needs a reality check here.”
Capito also touched on President Biden’s multiple attempts to ease student loan debt across the country, noting that she believes federal spending on student loan debt would be unconstitutional, and the mere idea of it is instilling a lot of false hope in the American public.
“Even the President said initially that he didn’t think what he was doing the first time would pass constitutional muster, and I hate to see people given false hope, count on it and plan their financial life around it, and then have it fall through,” Capito said.