WASHINGTON, DC – In remarks yesterday morning before a breakfast meeting of The Ripon Society, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) called on the Biden Administration to explain a $50 million grant the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded to the Climate Justice Alliance, a group, she said, that appears to be focused less on protecting the environment than promoting positions that most Americans would find extreme.
“They are anti-police, anti-military, anti-Semitic,” Capito said of the Alliance, which received the grant as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and was the subject of a recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal that documented some of the radical protests and actions the group has taken. “The sad thing is there are associated nonprofits with a lot of these bigger groups that have this kind of anti-American philosophy.
“So we're going to be digging into it. Because either the Administration doesn't care or they're not doing their homework. I think Americans would be pretty astounded to know we are using U.S. tax dollars to fund these groups.”
Capito was elected to the Senate in 2014 after serving seven terms in the U.S. House. She currently serves as Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference. She is also the Ranking Member of the Committee on Environment and Public Works. In her remarks yesterday morning, she also talked about the political environment in Washington, and how this year’s campaign would impact the legislative agenda on Capitol Hill.
“It's going to be politics all the time,” she said. As proof, she pointed to the recent decision by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to schedule a vote on contraception and birth control. “He is trying to divert attention away from what really is going on at the Southern border,” the West Virginia lawmaker stated, “what's going on with the influx of drugs in the country, and what's going on internationally where the President has lost the confidence of the American people.”
Following her opening remarks, Capito took a number of questions, including one about the effect the Biden Administration’s energy policies will have come November.
“I think the American people are keen on what energy means to them,” she stated, “whether it's their businesses or heating their homes or air conditioning or providing a job in their community. … President Biden cannot deny what his administration has done. Denying leases, stopping pipelines, loading up the regulatory environment to make it impossible to continue base load energy. Biden has done a lot to stymie the production and innovation in the energy space and people know it.”
Capito was also asked whether she remained optimistic about the future of America given the political divisions that are roiling our country today.
“I'm always optimistic,” she said matter-of-factly. “Travel somewhere outside of this country, and as soon as you get in the U.S. of A. you say, ‘Wow, what a great country we have.’ We just take it for granted. And I'm not saying everything's easy and everything's good, but I really think it's going to come from our young people to have that inspiration to keep going.
“I am very concerned about the tone that people are taking. And you can see it showing up in younger people, like teenagers who think it's okay to call people names and to disparage their character because you don't agree with them. You see it in our government, you see it on the House and on the Senate floor.”
