MORGANTOWN — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday she’s concerned about the $3.5 trillion Democratic social infrastructure package in the works, and about the lack of a Biden administration plan to deal with the growing numbers of illegal immigrants pressing the nation’s southern border.
Capito aired her concerns during a morning press conference with members of the West Virginia press.
“I think it’s just outrageous the amount of money” in the Democratic proposal, Capito said, adding no one in the GOP knows what’s in it or how it will be paid for. She believes it will trigger further inflation — already being seen at gas pumps and grocery stores.
“I’m very concerned about how this will impact West Virginians and West Virginians’ budgets,” she said.
Politico reported Thursday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans votes next week on moving forward with the tandem infrastructure packages: the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure framework that deals with traditional infrastructure, and the $3.5 trillion social package.
The bipartisan package would need 60 votes to enable work on the bill to move forward. Politico and The Hill said Schumer will use a House bill as the shell to amend in the Senate’s measures. While an evenly divided group of 22 senators has been crafting the measure, it remains uncertain if the shell bill can gain the 10 GOP votes needed to advance the package for full consideration.
Meanwhile, no Republicans are expected to support the $3.5 trillion package, and Democrats will move it via budget reconciliation, which bypasses the filibuster and requires only a simple majority. While its contents remain to be worked out, Politico reported it reflects President Biden’s previously enumerated goals: green energy and climate resiliency; expanding universal pre-K schooling and paid leave; extending the child tax credit past its year-end expiration date; expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision and hearing; expanding home care; reducing prescription drug costs; and promoting Medicaid expansion.
The package is expected to contain some form of Biden’s plan to set carbon-emission reduction goals for 2035 and 2050, outpacing research to advance clean carbon technology. “That is a job-killer all across our state,” Capito said.
The “pay-fors” for both bills are still being debated. The Democratic package calls for tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy.
There has been speculation Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t back the bipartisan deal, leaving Democrats to pass that through reconciliation too.
Capito said McConnell has been hands-off on those negotiations but remains supportive of a bipartisan deal. She believes people making those comments are seeking in advance to deflect any blame for failure from Biden to McConnell.
Capito said again she supports the bipartisan process but is withholding judgment on a bill until she sees what’s in it.
The border crisis
Capito followed up on her Wednesday statements regarding her joining a group of 26 GOP senators urging Biden to keep in place a 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order, under Title 42 of U.S. Code, created to prevent illegal immigrants from bringing COVID-19 across the southern border. Biden is expected to rescind that order in the next two to three weeks.
The CDC order allows the Department of Homeland Security to immediately expel aliens who would otherwise be held in congregate settings, including Border Patrol Stations and land Ports of Entry. As reported Wednesday, 112,302 of the 180,034 migrants apprehended in May were expelled to Mexico under Title 42.
Capito noted that the numbers typically drop in the summer because of the heat. But since he began campaigning for his job, Biden has made it clear the border will be open and Vice President Harris’ empty message of “Don’t come” is meaningless.
“I think the Biden administration is failing miserably here because they don’t have a plan,” she said. “I am very concerned about this. It’s just a mess, honestly; the lack of planning is astounding.”
Cuban protests
Capito Thursday joined with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and others to introduce a resolution in support of the Cuban people as they lead protests throughout the island “against six decades of repression and tyranny from the Castro and Díaz-Canel regime.”
Capito said during the press conference, “I certainly stand in solidarity with the Cuban people.”
The resolution calls on Cuban security to respect the rights of the people to protest, on the Cuban regime to release all political prisoners, and for the police and army to refrain from violence against the people. It urges Biden to call a meeting of the U.N. Security Council, engage international condemnation of the Communist regime, and to lead the effort to impose multilateral sanctions.
Joe Manchin
On Thursday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, chaired by Sen. Joe Manchin, reported out an original bill that will be part of the overall infrastructure legislation.
“I’m tremendously proud of the productive, bipartisan work we accomplished today,” Manchin said.
As amended, the Energy Infrastructure Act authorizes over $100 billion to invest in the reliability and resilience of the electric grid and expand transmission capabilities, demonstrate the critical energy technologies, build out domestic supply chains for clean energy technologies, invest in water infrastructure needed by western states, restore ecosystems, and mitigate wildfire risk and clean up the abandoned energy infrastructure and mine lands, among other things.
Regarding the $3.5 trillion Democratic package, Manchin supplied a statement he made on Twitter. He’s interested to learn how it will be paid for, he said, and how it will help the U.S. remain globally competitive. He’s reserving final judgment until he’s had the chance to thoroughly review it.
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