U.S. Sen.-elect Shelley Moore Capito
has a lot of work ahead of her and a short time to get it done.
“I have to be out of my congressional
office in Washington by November 20th,” she
said while attending Charleston
Capito was elected to a six-year
term in the Nov. 4 General Election. She defeated Secretary of State Natalie
Tennant by 28 percent.
Capito said things are run quite
differently in the Senate than the House. She’s finding things move slower on
that side of Capitol Hill. Even getting permanent office space takes time.
Capito is also in transition back at home where she’ll go from representing a
single congressional district to the entire state.
“It means much bigger responsibility
and we’ll have offices throughout the state,” she said. “I imagine we’ll hire
more people and caseworkers to help people with issues.”
However, amid all of those activities
she still has business to wrap up in the House of Representatives. The budget
is still in need of approval. The House is expected to work on measures for
combating Ebola and Capito thought there will probably be House action on the
fight against Isis, particularly since President Obama this week committed
1,500 additional troops to the fight in Iraq
Looking forward to her Senate duties,
Capito’s priority for a committee assignment is clear and she’s already
communicated it to anticipated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“The committees line up differently in
the House than they do in the Senate, so I’m still making that determination,”
she said. “But certainly I want to be somewhere I can be influential with coal
and that will be my number one priority when looking for a committee.”
Capito also anticipated Congress will
move forward with a meaningful energy policy which will benefit all forms of
energy, including coal and help shore up the nation’s energy needs.
“This era of the election being so tumultuous I really think there’s
a mandate from people to get along, make progress and make good decisions,” she
said. “That’s going to be a driving force and I think we’re going to surprise
some people.”
