Capito Seeks Better Communication Among Senators
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WASHINGTON -- For Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, the issues facing the U.S. Senate include more than the debt ceiling, illegal immigration through an open border, and the fentanyl crisis.
The Republican from West Virginia also sees a lack of internal communication as one of the Senate's biggest issues, and she's set out this year as a member of the Senate's Republican leadership team to help provide a fix.
Capito earlier this year was elected by her colleagues to be a member of Senate leadership. There, she has not only a seat at the table but a voice in how the Senate does its business.
She's using that voice and her position as the fifth-ranking Republican in the Senate to help build better relationships.
"I really have taken the position (of improving) member-to-member communication," Capito said. "... There were frustrations (among Republican senators) that people were not really being listened to and I thought, are we really talking to one another enough?
"And so my focus these five months has been much more internal.
"I sponsor the Senate leadership hour, (where) everyone gets five minutes on a topic and we just feed off one another. ... Also, we have some new members (in the Senate) this year, and I do short videos with them that we share internally with other members of the caucus.
This gives them a chance to talk about their families and other personal details, and that helps all of us just get to know each other better."
Part of Capito's reasoning for improving internal communications and camaraderie among Republicans goes back to the 2022 election. Republicans underperformed in the Senate, Capito believes, and it's important moving forward to understand not only why, but also what needs to be done so it doesn't happen again.
There are a number of hot-button issues currently on Capito's plate, chief among them border security and the end of Title 42. Prior to this year, Capito was the lead Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee for Homeland Security, which oversees the border protection.
What she's seeing right now with how the Biden Administration has handled the border is, in her mind, unconscionable.
"It's just mind-boggling to me that the administration has not come to the conclusion that there are (millions of) people in this country (illegally) now ... and we're letting more in. ... We don't know where they are, who they are, and what their purpose is. Some of them are coming for economic purposes. Some people have family. Some people are probably just not good guys," she said. "Also, they're allowing what they call 'street parole.' If you're here illegally, you can just go to the local ICE office, register, and then right back on the street. And the drug issue is huge."
On drugs, specifically fentanyl, Capito on Tuesday questioned U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on what's being done to stem the flow of fentanyl precursors coming from China.
"And I'm asking our Secretary of State ... 'why aren't you doing more?' And then I asked him, 'When's the last time you talked to China about this?' His answer? 'Well, we talk to them all the time.' I said 'when was the last time?' He said the security conference -- three months ago.
"... I thought about that (Tuesday) night when I put my head on the pillow. There were 107,000 people who died from overdoses (last year), and they say 70% of that is fentanyl. So that's roughly 70,000 fentanyl deaths. So over three months, doing the math ... about 18,000 people died since the last time our secretary of state talked to the Chinese. We have to do something about this."
She recalled how states reacted in recent decades to the methamphetamine crisis by regulating the sale of over-the-counter medications.
"If you can't get the chemicals to make (fentanyl), you can stop it. I'm frustrated because all it seems we get is window-dressing by the president. And he put the vice president in charge. I haven't heard her talk about it recently. It's just a mess," she said.
That's where communication among members and the executive branch needs to improve. Capito said when members of different parties sit down together -- she recalled an overseas trip at Easter where she was the only Republican with four Democrats -- the relationships are strong. But the big issues, when it's time to vote, can never get resolution, and the parties, like the nation, remain split.
She recalled how her father, the late W.Va. Gov. Arch Moore, served in 1976 as one of the lead Republicans supporting Gerald Ford's nomination for president. The two had served in Congress together and were good friends, and the nation's focus was on West Virginia during the Republican National Convention when the state put Ford over the top.
Ford's 1976 primary opponent, Ronald Reagan, became president four years later. He and Moore were able to work through Moore's support of Ford to form their own relationship. And when Moore became West Virginia's governor again in 1985, he and Reagan strengthened that relationship -- to West Virginia's benefit.
"That's such a good and personal example for me that we've got to start listening to one another, and working together for our nation," Capito said.