West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito outlines GOP agenda: Immigration reform, tax cuts and tackling national debt

Immigration, taxes and the national debt are at the top of the agenda for Republicans in Congress, according to U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

Capito, who on Wednesday was elected to the No. 4 position on the GOP Senate leadership team, will play a sizable role in shaping the priorities of lawmakers as chair of the Senate GOP Policy Committee.

“I will not just be at the leadership table, but I will be leading the Policy Committee, which is the one that really does the deep-dives on all the policy that we’re going to be going forward (on) and where we need to be making adjustments or new law or clawing back some of the regulatory areas,” she said Thursday.

The first issues to be tackled are those President-elect Donald Trump discussed frequently on the campaign trail, Capito said.

“I think probably the top areas that we will go to the quickest are the ones that the president talked about the most,” she said.

Trump is likely to push to restart construction of the wall along the southern border with Mexico and to reenact immigration policies from his first term, like the “Remain in Mexico” policy, Capito said.

“To provide the deterrents, so people do not keep streaming across our southern border bringing all kinds of things, fentanyl included among that,” she said. “So I think you’re going to see aggressively policy there.”

Extending tax cuts passed in 2016 is another priority, Capito said.

“I think we will look at that package as an economic package to get reasonable tax reform, greater tax reform to individuals and to make it fairer through the tax code,” she said. “I think that will serve the purpose of making this economy better.”

Addressing the more than $35 trillion national debt is also a prime concern, Capito said.

“I think we will be looking (at) and also have a lot of discussion around the national debt,” she said. “I’m not sure what direction we would go there, but I think that is obviously a topic of great concern for many Americans, me included. I think we’re going to have to look at some reform measures there to try and rein that in.”

Other areas of legislative focus include crime, the regulatory environment and developing a comprehensive national energy policy, Capito said.

“We have to have a serious, all-of-the-above energy policy and not pick winners and losers like the Biden administration has been doing,” she said.

With Trump poised to return to the White House and Republicans in control of the Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, it’s the dawning of a new era in Washington, Capito said.

“I think it enables us to move forward on an agenda of safer border, better economic policies, international strength, looking at the crime issues that become part of the campaign and certainly the drug issues,” she said. “I think we’re going to have a great couple of years coming up here with a lot of support from West Virginia in particular, but also from the American people.”