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Floor Speech

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Mrs. CAPITO. Madam President, a few weeks ago, the American people spoke loud and clear. They rejected the policies that we have been seeing through this current administration. But, today, I rise to talk about the vision my Republican colleagues and I have for this future and the many solutions that we are eager to get back to work on that I believe will help get this country back on track.

First things first, this newly formed Republican Senate majority is ready to close the previous chapter. It is a chapter I think that none of us really want to go through again. Soon, the Resolute Desk will change hands, and the Senate, under the guidance of my friend and colleague and soon-to-be majority leader John Thune, will get to work. And we have the full support of the incoming President, President-elect Trump.

The American public wants to see real action. Back home in my State of West Virginia, people have conveyed to me that they are ready for real representation--a government of, by, and for the people. Senate Republicans will deliver responsive and responsible solutions for the American people.

The task ahead is this: unshackling the American economy, securing the border, unleashing our American energy, reducing crime and lawlessness, and restoring American strength and deterrence on the world stage. These are the issues on which the voters placed their faith in us.

I also believe that central to this mandate for this new American leadership is the idea that people really did feel better and preferred their lives under the Presidency of President Trump. I know for sure I did.

So as the Senate fulfills its responsibility to pass legislation to get this country back on track, let's look no further than the previous Trump administration for the roadmap.

President Trump unleashed American energy production, rolling back burdensome permitting rules and redtape. Republicans slashed regulations that canceled pipelines. We erased barriers to our new ones. America sits on the greatest treasure trove of natural resources in the world, and a Republican-led energy policy will not squander that.

West Virginia knows the difference between good and bad energy policy all too well. We are an energy State. We have been blessed with a lot of natural resources, and we know that our economy and people's jobs and people's lives and people's families depend on us unleashing that energy. The jobs that President Trump saved--a lot of those jobs--were West Virginia energy jobs. So we can get back to a cheaper, more secure, and more reliable world by unleashing American energy once again.

The Republican solution is ``America First'' energy policies that can result in energy dominance and our own self-reliance--no more depending on fuels from dictators who hate America or no more reliance on green energy from Chinese Communist Party-backed supply chains.

It is going to take an ``all of the above'' approach, including opening up projects like our recently just opened Mountain Valley Pipeline so that we can deliver energy in markets, promoting carbon capture and sequestration to use our vast coal resources, nuclear energy, and renewables, as the market sees fit--and they are growing.

In a few months, I will be chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. I am really excited about this opportunity, and I cannot stress enough how important these items are to the agenda.

My Senate Republican colleagues and I are prepared to bring forward legislative solutions to help fuel American growth, and I hope our Democratic colleagues will join us in moving these solutions forward in the next Congress.

On the economy, residents from my State--and the entire country--are still reeling from the elevated costs on all things, from housing, energy, food, and almost every other everyday essential.

Personal finances are stretched so thin right now. For instance, in my State of West Virginia, West Virginians are spending, on average, an additional $930 a month, or more than $25,000 a year, due to inflation, since 2021. Actually, that is a total of $25,000 since 2021.

The plan to get the American economy back on track is a tried-and- true formula of energy dominance--repealing burdensome regulations--and lowering taxes. It is pretty simple. You should keep more of your own paycheck, and the government should stay out of the way.

I am looking forward to taking up legislation proposed by me and my other Senate colleagues toward these ends, including an extension and reauthorization of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that we passed in 2017-- including some of the most pro-growth tax reform policies that we have seen--as well as other potential budget solutions.

Crime and the border go hand in hand. Under President Trump's first administration, both were managed. But now they are not. Look no further than the example of the addiction crisis, a direct product of lawlessness and the free rein of Mexican cartels.

Just a few days ago, last Friday, I convened State and community leaders in West Virginia for a summit focused on combating the addiction crisis. The correlation between wide-open borders and the raging drug crisis was mentioned repeatedly at this summit, especially during the presentation and discussion with our law enforcement panel.

Here is the fentanyl crisis by the numbers: CBP seized 27,000 pounds of fentanyl in the fiscal year 2023. That is only a fraction of the real amount that crosses our border. Keep in mind that a minuscule amount of fentanyl can have a deadly effect.

Of the over 107,000 drug overdoses that occurred in the United States in 2023--I will repeat that number: 107,000; that is almost double the size of the capital city of Charleston in West Virginia, where I live-- almost 75,000 of those involved fentanyl.

This out-of-control drug trafficking must end. It is a lawless scourge that takes more West Virginians per capita than in any other State in the Union. In sheer numbers, the death toll and calamity eclipse any other modern drug epidemic.

We know what works because the rise in fentanyl overdose deaths stalled under President Trump. The bottom line, we have got to close the border and end the lawlessness.

Yet again, Republicans have the roadmap. We did it once, and we can do it again. A heightened sense and appreciation for law and order from the border to the inner cities, to everywhere back home will feature prominently in this next Republican administration.

President Trump presided over a relatively peaceful period of history unmatched in our national history. After crushing ISIS, the Trump-led world order went largely untested by the world's dictators and demagogues. The same cannot be said about the world today.

China manipulates the Biden administration every day, while burrowing deep into our critical infrastructure and growing its military. Iran and its terrorist proxies wage war against our ally Israel. And, of course, there is the ongoing war in Ukraine. This is the world under the Biden-Harris administration's watch.

In what seems like the most trying confluence of geopolitical struggles in a generation, America must lead through strength. Indecision and weakness have emboldened our adversaries.

Republicans can start the next Congress by restoring deterrence against Iran and reinstating Trump's maximum-pressure campaign. We should cut off Iran's funding sources so that they can't continue to support these attacks against our U.S. servicemembers.

Just last week, the Houthis fired at least eight drones, five ballistic missiles, and three anti-ship cruise missiles against our U.S. Navy ships. It was barely even news because this is now just a regular occurrence under this current administration.

This administration apparently has no clue that our troops are under constant attack on land and sea, since our current Vice President, in her campaign, said that she didn't think any U.S. forces were in combat.

America must protect our servicemembers and put Iran on notice that their weapons-dealing business is over.

More broadly, a unified Republican government will be prepared to restore our military strength, refocus our DOD on lethality, and restock our critical munitions.

I have detailed but a few of the ideas and solutions to this dangerous, costly, and disordered world that we are inheriting. It is a challenge fit for a strong government and even stronger leadership, and it is good that we have a change for who is in charge.

Until then, I suggest the best course of action this body can take is to work diligently on the outstanding priorities that we have in front of us. I am talking about the NDAA--the National Defense Authorization bill--the government funding bills, and the farm bill. That way, the next Congress can stand at full attention, ready to advance policies to make our country safer, stronger, and a more resilient place.

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