West Virginia will have a more powerful voice on infrastructure policy on Capitol Hill starting next year.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito will become chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee in January.
She’ll set the agenda on a number of issues, including a highway reauthorization that Congress must enact next year.
Capito says her priorities include rural roads, deficient bridges and safety.
She also wants to take unspent funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which she helped negotiate, and send them to states.
“Some of these discretionary funds, in other words, things that you have to ask for and apply for, haven’t even gone out the door yet and it’s been three years,” she said. “You know what that tells me? That’s an unworkable system.”
Infrastructure is still one of the most bipartisan issues in a Congress closely divided between Democrats and Republicans.
Capito was also elected by her Republican colleagues to serve in the No. 4 Senate leadership position, policy committee chair.
When U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin leaves the Capitol in January, Capito will become West Virginia’s senior senator as well.