To watch Senator Capito’s remarks, click here or on the image above. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, participated in the weekly Senate Republican Leadership press conference where she discussed the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the underutilization of federal office space.

Part of Senator Capito’s remarks focused on the need to prioritize the NDAA on the Senate floor, and for a robust amendment process. Senator Capito, who is also the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, also highlighted the inclusion of her ADVANCE Act, a nuclear energy bill that aims to help make America the global nuclear energy leader needed for the 21st century.

HIGHLIGHTS:

BIPARTISAN NDAA: “I am excited that the NDAA has come forward. We're going to have amendments, as we should have. It's been several years before we've been able to have a robust process, so we're all embracing that. There's going to be a lot of, I think, aggressive policy against China and North Korea, and others, Russia and Iran, held within the NDAA. I think you'll find broad, bipartisan support.”

ADVANCE ACT: “I did want to highlight one particular part of the NDAA which is called the ADVANCE Act, it came out of our EPW Committee 16 to 3. It is my bill that is a nuclear energy bill. We have to have United States superiority in the area of global deployment of nuclear energy. We are on the cusp of a lot of research and innovation and discovery on small modular nuclear reactors. There's a lot of excitement about it in terms of generation of power, but also using it as a fuel for industrial resources.”

GAO REPORT: “A report that was put out by the GAO last week, and it was about the usage of federal buildings in Washington, D.C. 24 agencies were polled to see in January, February, and March, how much uses they had of the federal government building.”

FEDERAL WASTE: “You want to talk about waste? That's what this chart is all about. It shows you that the highest usage of the buildings is a little bit over 30%. The lowest by some agencies is 9%. 9% to 10% of the available office space is actually being used. That's $2 billion a year to maintain these buildings. $5 billion a year to maintain the leases. We have got to sell off the federal government's property, or better idea, get people into work and then sell off what's left.”

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