Manchin, Capito talk about ‘unbreakable’ bond at W.Va. Chamber Business Summit
August 30, 2024
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito will become West Virginia’s senior senator when U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin retires at the end of the year, but that doesn’t mean the two long-time friends will not miss each other.
Both Capito and Manchin spoke Thursday morning to attendees of the 88th West Virginia Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting and Business Summit at the Greenbrier Resort.
“I have big shoes to fill, and if you don’t believe that, Joe reminds me of that every day,” joked Capito, R-W.Va., who introduced a video showcasing Manchin and Capito’s more than five decades of friendship and 10 years together in the U.S. Senate.
“(Manchin) tells me I’m going to miss him, and I will,” Capito said. “We have worked incredibly well together, and I will miss seeing him…When we disagree – and we do – he lets me yell at him more than he yells back. But we disagree respectfully. And then we get up the next morning and just hit the ground running. It’s been a really good 10 years.”
“She’s been waiting a long time to be the senior senator,” Manchin said. “She sometimes may push me a little bit. But she has waited for this, and she has earned it. She’ll do a great job. I told her you’re going to miss me when I’m gone…but the truth is I’m going to miss her more.”
Manchin, I-W.Va., announced his retirement from the U.S. Senate at the end of his second full six-year term nearly 10 months ago. After a brief exploration of a third-party run for president early this year, Manchin ended his life-long affiliation with the Democratic Party in June by switching his voter registration to independent while still caucusing with Senate Democrats.
Manchin talked about his friendship with Capito going back to when her father, the late Gov. Arch Moore, helped Manchin’s father, John Manchin, with a Small Business Administration loan for his Marion County business in the late 1950s when Moore was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Her and I grew up with an unbreakable bond, and it came from our parents, our fathers,” Manchin said, holding back emotion. “It just really shows you that two people from different political spectrums, it wasn’t about politics; it was about personal relationships. It was about doing the right thing…and putting your country and your state and your job above your own personal ambitions.”
Together, along with other members of West Virginia’s congressional delegations, Manchin and Capito have been able to pull down an estimated $200 billion in federal investment in West Virginia over a 14-year period, with $80 billion in just the last four years alone thanks to federal earmarks and the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which both senators had a role in negotiating with President Joe Biden.
“I’m a former House member and loved every minute of it for 14 years, but you only need one more vote to pass there,” Capito said. “In the Senate, you need 60 votes. You are forced to come to the table, and that’s a good thing. That’s what we saw in the bipartisan infrastructure package. We saw Joe and nine other people and Republicans joining together to do what I think is a very transformational piece of legislation.”
“We’ve doubled our budget in excess investments brought to the state to give us opportunities,” Manchin said. “This gravy train is not going to last. We need to make sure we spend it and spend it wisely, and we had better invest it properly.”
Manchin and Capito introduced the New River Gorge Park and Preserve Designation Act in the U.S. Senate, with 1st District Congresswoman Carol Miller, R-W.Va., introducing a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019. The law created one of the largest national parks and set aside 65,165 acres for a nature preserve, opened up 368 acres for hunting in the Grandview area and maintained another 301 acres in the Lower Gorge for hunting.
“We truly are the playground of the eastern part of the United States. We should be. We have a national park closest to the epicenter of the population more than any other,” Manchin said. “That is a gamechanger for the state.”
Both Manchin and Capito are working on a permitting reform package that can pass Congress and get signed into law before Manchin leaves the U.S. Senate. Manchin, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 with ranking Republican committee member John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
The bill, which has already made it through Manchin’s committee, has the support of several Republican senators, including Capito, ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The bill would streamline permitting for energy and infrastructure projects.
“I can tell you on (permitting) we are very close on the committee bill,” Manchin said. “I truly believe in my heart that we can get a bill done and I’m ready to do that. Shelley is ready and she’s been helping. It’s going to take both of our committees working together to make this happen. It’s going to be a team effort, but we have got a good bill.”
“We’re going to have electric cars…we’re going to have all kinds of AI innovation that need (computer) chips … but if you can’t get permits to get the metals, you can’t create the products,” Capito said. “On the one hand, we have incentives to keep moving ahead and creating energy and these products. On the other hand, we have smothering regulations piled on top of one another that makes permitting and the expense of getting things done nearly impossible.”
If the Republicans are able to hold their Senate seats and flip Ohio and Montana to the GOP, Republicans will take a narrow majority in the 100-member Senate for the first time since special elections in 2021. Capito, currently the fifth ranking member of Senate Republican leadership, plans to seek the chairmanship of the Senate Republican Conference, where she serves as vice chair.
“We know the Senate … is going to be 50-50 with Joe moving out of his seat. So, these Senate races are really important across the country,” Capito said. “Watch Montana. Watch Michigan. Watch Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Arizona. These are all potential Republican pickups.”
Capito would also take the chairmanship of the EPW Committee if the Republicans take the Senate majority next year. Her committee is pivotal in directing funding for infrastructure projects. Capito is also a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee along with Manchin.
Capito said Congress will likely pass a continuing resolution in September to keep the government funded past the November election and through the end of the year. But Capito said lawmakers need to pass an actual budget and appropriations bills.
“We’ve passed them all out of all but one of our committees … How do you get them over the line? Well, you’ve got to get the leader of the Senate, Senator (Chuck) Schumer to quit wasting time on stupid bills and let’s fund the government,” Capito said.
Story by Steven Allen Adams, News & Sentinel