Capito one of only 19 to support infrastructure bill
We often use this space to hold our politicians accountable. Lately, it has been Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin under our microscope, particularly as Senate launched into a tug-of-war over an infrastructure package.
But we also use this space to praise our representatives when they do well for the state.
The $1 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed the Senate this past Tuesday in a 69-30 vote. Both our senators voted in favor, making Capito one of only 19 Republican senators to vote “yea.”
The bipartisan bill was modeled on talks Capito and fellow Republicans had with the White House and contains legislation crafted in the Environment and Public Works Committee, on which Capito is the ranking Republican. The Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act and the Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act were both approved in committee earlier this year.
With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, West Virginia can expect about $3.8 billion over the next five years, which is a start. After all, there are a thousands of miles of roads and about 1,500 bridges in desperate need of repair (or replacement). We know the state is also looking at over $800 million for highway projects (including Corridor H) and bridges.
The Mountain State can take advantage of the newly reauthorized Abandoned Mine Land program as well. As the program name implies, funds can be used to clean up abandoned mine sites and cap orphaned oil and gas wells.
West Virginia is also on track to get at least $100 million to expand broadband, which is essential in our modern world. Hundreds of homes either have unreliable internet access or none at all. The last year and half has illustrated that the internet can connect us even when we have to stay physically apart.
We won’t detail every penny West Virginia might receive (if you’d like more information, see David Beard’s article from Aug. 11 for more details), but we will say that these country roads need a lot of love.
West Virginia’s people need a lot of love, too — the kind of care and assistance that’s in the proposed $3.5 trillion human infrastructure framework the Senate will tackle next. We hope Capito will be willing to negotiate between her competing allegiances — to party and to state — in order to bring home what her constituents need, like she did for this bill.
There is one thing to keep in mind as we discuss this, however: The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is not a done deal. All eyes were on the Senate because of the miniscule Democratic majority and the possibility of the infrastructure bill falling to the filibuster. But it still has to make it through the House of Representatives. We hope our West Virginia Representatives in the House — David McKinley, Alex Mooney and Carol Miller — will support our state and vote to pass this bipartisan infrastructure bill into law.
