WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Ranking Member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, today joined a group of her colleagues to discuss the impacts of record high gas and energy prices on working West Virginians.
Senator Capito implored President Biden to finally prioritize domestic energy production, work to return the United States to energy independence, and highlighted stories she’s heard from West Virginians across the state.
Here are some perspectives on gas prices from West Virginians as told by Capito:
“This is a father and a husband and Wellsburg, which is at the very tippy-top of our state: ‘I fear before summer I will literally be choosing which to pay: fuel for my vehicle or food for the table for myself, my wife, and my two small children.’
“‘I went past a gas station today in Huntington. Gas is now $4.25…food is going up. Utilities are going up. I’m a senior and I’m barely making it.’ Senior citizen, Huntington, West Virginia
“And then lastly, a woman in Fayetteville, which is right near our new national park, I would encourage you to visit, says, ‘With the increase in gas and diesel, everything else increases. It doesn’t seem that anyone in Washington cares.’
“So, I would ask the president to take responsibility and make sure that our friend in Fayetteville, West Virginia knows that we care and work on this very, very deep and expensive gas crisis that we’re seeing in front of our American public.”
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito
“Today, I think it was $4.34. It’s now nationally $4.56. They want to see somebody take responsibility and the president is the one who said when he was first elected, ‘I’ll take responsibility instead of blaming others.’ And honestly, all he’s done in this instance, something that hits everybody, every day in their pocketbook, is blame everybody else. He blames Vladimir Putin. He blames COVID. He blames even American businesses….the prices were escalating well before Vladimir Putin ever invaded Ukraine. They’ve been escalating for a year before we even heard him talk about it with any kind of meaningful discussion.”
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito
Capito says rural states have been hit hardest by high gas prices.
“I come from West Virginia. We drive everywhere. We drive to school, we drive to work, we drive to the grocery store, we drive to church, we drive to see our families, we drive to see our friends. I mean, we are rural America where cars are the only way to get to the place that you need to be.”
U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito