Capito starts new Senate leadership position in January

Dec. 2—Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., now holds one of the top five leadership positions in the U.S. Senate, giving her a voice in an inner circle of power.

Capito was elected last week by her Senate Republican colleagues to serve as the Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference.

"That is great news for the state...," she said Thursday during a virtual press briefing.

The Senate has five leadership positions, with Sen. Mitch McConnell leading the minority party, along with a whip (Sen. John Thune of South Dakota), conference leader (Sen. John Barraso of Wyoming), policy leader (Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri) and conference vice chairman.

Capito had served on the broader Senate Republican leadership team for several years, but will now have the responsibilities as vice chairman.

She said she asked her colleagues to give her a chance "to communicate both on the national and state levels to present, I think, a bit of a different voice from rural America, a place I think is deeply Republican, but still has great roots in the Democratic Party..."

Capito said this background gives her a "strong voice" that will help Senate leaders better understand how policies and decisions impact people.

"I think that is why ... I will be one of the five that you will see quite regularly talking about why we are moving in a certain direction, why I think certain policies are good, particularly now ... we will be talking about things like the economy, the border, or things internationally like Ukraine..." she said.

"For West Virginia, I think it gives us a nice feather in our cap to have that leadership voice at a very small table," Capito said, adding that it has been "a very long time" since anyone from the state held such a leadership position.

The late Sen. Robert Bryd served as both minority and majority leader of Senate Democrats, with the last as majority leader from 1987 to 1989.

"I am very excited and humbled by the honor and I am ready to start in the new year," Capito said.

Capito also on Thursday discussed the new broadband maps on the FCC (Federal Communication Commission) website.

She urged residents to go online, put in their address and make sure the maps accurately describe the available broadband, if any.

"We need to know that so we can dispute the maps," she said of feedback from residents if the maps are not accurate.

Any mistakes can mean less funding for the state from the infrastructure bill, money used to make sure all residents have access to broadband service on unserved and underserved areas.

"There is a tremendous amount of funding in the infrastructure bill," she said, and an initial problem may be that 130,000 homes were left off the map.

Capito consulted with the West Virginia Broadband Council to see why, and some addressed listed SpaceX service, with is "non-existent."

"We must have accurate maps," she said. "I'm encouraging all West Virginians to visit the FCC's map webpage at broadbandmap.fcc.gov/home — and make sure your address is accurately represented."

— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com

Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com