Capito slams NDAA stalemate, calls for focus on 2026 victory over 2020 re-litigation
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CHARLESTON - The U.S. Senate was back on Capitol Hill this week following a 16-day recess, mourning the death of a colleague, fighting over defense spending, working on water infrastructure and college athletic oversight bills, and preparing for a primetime address by President Donald Trump.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., provided an update to reporters Thursday morning on a conference call from the U.S. Capitol Building.
According to media reports, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died Saturday due to complications from an aortic dissection caused by arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease. He was 71. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, when he succeeded the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond.
"It’s been a very somber week. We lost one of our American treasures," Capito said. "It’s been tough for all of us. We were all friends with him. He had bipartisan friends, friends around the world. There are so many stories about his positions and his passion and his humor. He will be sadly missed."
On Tuesday, a motion for the Senate to consider the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) failed in a 50-46 vote, unable to reach the 60-vote cloture in order to be fully considered. Four senators missed Tuesday's procedural vote, including U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va.
The $1.15 trillion bill is ensnared in negotiations between the slim Republican Senate majority and the Democratic minority over differences in top-line defense spending levels. Capito pointed out that the bill was passed out of committee in an 18-9 vote with Democratic members voting with the majority.
"The Democrats will not even carry on a tradition over 65 years of passing the National Defense Authorization Act," Capito said. "We pass this every year … It is filled with amendments that were offered on both sides of the aisle, and yet when we came to the vote to ask for the bipartisan cooperation that was in committee, it was not there."
While bipartisanship was missing from the NDAA, Capito said there was bipartisan support for the Water Resources Development Act of 2026, which passed unanimously out of Capito's Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday. The bill includes funding for flood control and prevention efforts, assistance for environmental infrastructure projects, provides more resources to the Army Corps of Engineers for water infrastructure projects, additional funding for water and wastewater infrastructure projects, and workforce development. Capito said the bill was a win for the nation and West Virginia.
"The state uses this to modernize systems … This is something that I’ve worked on passionately through the years for infrastructure," Capito said. "It also combined this year with the Corps of Engineers (funding) … These are critical dollars that come back to us."
On Tuesday, Capito announced she was a co-sponsor of the Protect College Sports Act. The bill would create uniform national regulations so the NCAA can enforce rules without constant litigation. It would ensure that the shift toward name, image and likeness rights (NIL) does not result in the loss of scholarships for Olympic sports or women's sports.
"We know in West Virginia … we’re big supporters of our college sports," Capito said. "It’s kind of turned into the wild, wild west with students transferring all over the place, out of control salaries, and then the whole issue of whether to pay athletes for their name, image, and likeness."
"I like the bill," Capito continued. "We need to do something to rein this in. So, I’m hoping that this Protect College Sports bill makes it to the floor and we can hopefully put some guardrails around what has become an unmanageable system."
Lastly, Capito was asked about Thursday's primetime address President Donald Trump was expected to make regarding claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, claims that to date have all been disproven through multiple court cases and investigations. Trump was expected to again call on the Senate to pass the Save America Act.
Among other things, the Save America Act would require voters to show proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, in order to register to vote. Those wishing to register would need to bring their documents in person to a county clerk’s office instead of registering through the mail or online. The bill would also put in place a national requirement for voters to show photo IDs in order to vote.
Capito is a supporter of the Save America Act, but the bill is not fully supported by all members of the Senate Republican caucus and does not have the 60 votes needed to be fully considered.
"I’m a big supporter of the Save America Act," Capito said. "We have voter ID laws in West Virginia. They work very well and I think we have safe and secure elections in our state. At the same time, there are other states that do unsolicited mail-in ballots, that do ballot harvesting, and I think that can be problematic … The Save America Act would shut down those avenues. But the fact of the matter is, we don’t have the votes for this, and the president knows this."
Capito said she would like to see Trump focused not on the 2020 election and focused more on supporting Republican congressional candidates in the 2026 general election in November. Political experts predict that the U.S. House will flip back to Democratic control, and majority control of the Senate by the Republicans will be close. Capito is facing former Democratic Morgantown City Council member Rachel Fetty Anderson in November.
"I hope … that when (Trump) talks about the 2020 election or the 2026 election, that he can have a positive spin on what he thinks the future is and how important it is," Capito said. "I’m focused on what’s going to happen in the future. Focusing back on 2020 is an exercise, but I don’t think it’s an exercise that helps us reach our goals, and that is a safe and secure election in 2026, but also a victory for the conservative principles that we’ve put forward."