To watch Senator Capito’s questioning, click hereor the image above.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.)
questioned Governor Gina Raimondo, the nominee for Secretary of the United States
Department of Commerce, during today’s nomination hearing in the Commerce,
Science, and Transportation Committee. Today’s hearing follows a
recent meeting Senator Capito had with Governor Raimondo, where the two
discussed a number of issues important to West Virginia and the economic future
of the country. During today’s hearing, Senator Capito expressed the importance
of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) facility in
Fairmont and received important commitments from Governor Raimondo on the
efficiency of the Economic Development Administration (EDA), as well as the
future of broadband mapping. HIGHLIGHTS: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION EFFICIENCY: “I do have a question, in terms of the President’s
proposed stimulus. It recommends an additional $3 billion for the EDA, and I
value and respect the focus for that. But, I have great concerns about an
agency that has an annual budget of $330 million to be able to absorb, not just
the $3 billion he is proposing, but also the $1.5 billion we put in [the EDA]
with the CARES Act. How would you
propose [the EDA] be able to meet that capacity? It’s a challenge I think the
EDA would have to make sure that the money is being spent, not thrown out, but
making sure that it’s targeted, well spent, and efficiently spent.” ADVANCING BROADBAND MAPPING CAPABILITIES: “We’ve talked about broadband—and your state has
more urban broadband issues—we have a lot of rural, and certainly this
committee has done a lot of work in this. But, one of the areas we’ve really
fallen short is on the mapping situation. Who really is served? To what degree
are they served? What can we do to more accurately deploy the federal resources
to those who it’s intended for, the unserved and underserved? So, I would just
encourage you…you can’t just rely on the providers to tell you where they are
serving, or just one state entity or federal entity. I think you need an all-hands-on-deck
approach. I know this is important for you and for your state. Do you have any
other perspective on how we can get to that broadband mapping accurately when
we see the urgency the pandemic has brought for broadband deployment?” THE VALUE OF FAIRMONT’S
NOAA FACILITY: “Lastly, I’ll mention
to you our National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) facility that
we’re very proud of in Fairmont. They do a lot of supercomputing there. We also
have the Enterprise Security Operation Center that does a lot of cybersecurity.
You can imagine a lot of the data that’s collected, as the satellite sphere is
very important to our national security, but also to our homeland security in
terms of protecting life and property, and being able to predict, front-run
certain kinds of weather disasters and other things. I invite you to come to
Fairmont upon your confirmation, to see the NOAA facility and to see where the
great folks in Fairmont could be more helpful and use that expertise they
combine with educational centers to be able to enlarge their presence.”
