During her weekly press briefing Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., celebrated the passage of bills addressing Parkinson’s disease and nuclear energy, as well as shared her plans for the upcoming Republican National Convention.
The convention will take place next week in Milwaukee, and Capito said she plans to attend. She added that she believes Republican officials will come together as a “united party” during the convention.
“(The party will be united) around creating policies and advocating for policies that will turn our economics around and make sure that those who have difficulty paying at the grocery store have a little bit of ease in their pocket,” Capito said. “Also, a strong American presence around the globe is exceedingly important. ...”
“I think we’ll also talk about how President Trump’s former policies at the border were successful in keeping the numbers low at the time. ... There are other things that are concerning across the country, whether that be crime or the loss of education during COVID,” she said.
Capito was one of the senators who introduced the bipartisan Dr. Emmanuel Bilirakis and Honorable Jennifer Wexton National Plan to End Parkinson’s Act, which was passed in May and signed by President Joe Biden last week.
The bill will create an advisory committee that “supports research, care, and services for Parkinson’s, plus caregivers, patients, and other non-federal experts”, according to a release from Capito.
“West Virginia has a lot of people living with Parkinson’s disease, and it can manifest itself in many different ways — physically, neurologically or your speech,” Capito said Wednesday. “(This bill) is a national plan to end Parkinson’s disease.”
Capito also spoke about the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act, another bipartisan bill she helped introduce, which Biden signed into law Tuesday.
Capito said the act will pave the way for the country to invest more heavily in nuclear energy.
“There are these great innovations called small modular reactors,” Capito said. “These are not the nuclear reactors of old. You can stack them and move them around a lot easier. They’re safer and more manageable. This (bill) is to spur the licensing and innovation and development of this type of baseload energy production. ...
“It’s not to replace coal or natural gas. But we look at what’s going on with AI and data centers and other things — the energy needs are great here in our country, and we need to find more baseload energy. I think small modular nuclear reactors are the key here.”