WASHINGTON (WV News) — Now returned from Congress’ August recess, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said that September will be a big month for her and her peers.
Capito spoke during a press conference Thursday afternoon about the congressional challenges coming up this month, especially with the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
“We are going to have three appropriations bills up next week in regular order with amendments, and I’m very happy about that,” she said. “That’s what we should be doing, and we’re going to do everything we can to avoid that government shutdown that nobody wants. ... I don’t want to see that again. It’s a useless exercise, in my opinion.”
“We have the farm bill pending. We also have FAA reauthorization, which impacts our skies and aviation. We have lots on our plate, and I look forward to this month. It will be brisk and interesting, and hopefully ... we can rein in that spending and hold the line on it like we negotiated earlier in the year.”
Capito said that while she had a number of good meetings in West Virginia during the August recess, the majority of her time was spent on a congressional trip to Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand to learn more about the Indo-Pacific region “from a security standpoint.”
“We know there’s a looming threat with China and whether they’re going to move aggressively on Taiwan or not,” she said. “We need to shore up our allies there. We also saw joint exercises with Australia, India, Japan and the United States with our military. We met with some military leaders and were briefed on the Maui wildfires. ...
“What we learned with our allies ... is that American and Australian values are very much aligned. ... That’s why we’re such solid allies. ... It was a very informative trip, and it will help me as I’m making decisions.”
During Thursday’s press conference, Capito also touched on issues facing Paden City, located in Wetzel and Tyler counties, which has gone nearly a month without usable water after a treatment-plant malfunction allowed the release of a hazardous solvent.
Paden City, she said, is an EPA “Superfund” site, and she spoke with EPA officials Wednesday evening and Thursday morning about short- and long-term fixes for the issue.
“EPA is going to be providing bottled water for the community for as long as they need it,” Capito said. “We’ll be looking for an announcement from the EPA that will give the times and distribution areas so people can use that. ....
“Clean water is absolutely critical, and we must ensure that our water is safe, drinkable and OK to use. Until that time comes, it looks like Paden City is going to rely on bottled water. We’re going to help the community as best we can to secure those resources.”
Capito also spoke about the U.S. Department of Transportation’s recent move to suspend the transport of liquid natural gas by rail. She said the ruling shows that, in her opinion, the best and safest way to transport liquid natural gas is via pipeline.
“We have seen the very difficult way that it is to get the permit to be able to get a pipeline, but that’s the safest way to transport this very valuable natural gas,” Capito said. “We’ll follow along and see what happens in the administration and what the science is behind carrying LNG. Certainly, safety is the top priority, but we’ve also got a lot of natural recourses that we can use to help Europe and [others] and also help our internal resources.”