Here is a collection of statements on the beginning of the Joe Biden presidency, and on some policy matters Biden is addressing.
The inauguration
Sen Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.: “Today begins a new chapter for the United States of America and her people. I extend my most sincere congratulations to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on their inauguration. Every American should want our president to succeed because if our president does well, our nation and state do well. I will do everything in my power to work with President Biden to help heal our country and to govern in the most bipartisan way, because it should be about our country, democracy, the rule of law and saving our republic. We must come together to heal this political divide. God bless America.”
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.: “Today, I congratulate President Biden and Vice President Harris on their Inauguration. As we have since 2000, Charlie and I had the opportunity to witness this transfer of power. I stand ready to work with President Biden, Vice President Harris, and their administration to improve the lives of West Virginians. Our country faces many challenges ahead and we cannot let the issues that have divided us keep us from making progress. As we begin this next chapter, I hope that President Biden and Vice President Harris will work with Congress in a way that unites us so we can bridge these divisions and create a better future for all Americans.”
Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va.: “Congratulations to President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris on their historic inauguration. I look forward to working together to find bipartisan solutions that will strengthen the future of our nation.”
W.Va. Democratic Party chair Belinda Biafore: “Today we walk through the door to a new day, leaving behind a dark chapter in our history. We have waited four years for the moment when a team would take the White House and restore honesty, decency and integrity. That moment is today.
“Today Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States. While we walk through that door and onto better days, we cannot truly shut the door behind us until we do the work to reflect and repair who we are as America. Under the leadership of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, we will do just that.
“Vice President Kamala Harris became the first woman, Black American and Asian American to serve as vice president of the United States. Monumental steps forward such as that shattered glass ceiling make us proud and hopeful to be Americans.
“We will begin to heal the wounds of our past and our present. We will begin to restore the soul of America, just as President Biden has vowed again and again. As President Joe Biden said earlier today, democracy has prevailed. Today is America’s day. I look forward to working with the Biden-Harris Administration to move our country forward and make West Virginia a better place for our children and their futures.”
Policy issues
Manchin: “I am aware of the scarcity of the COVID-19 vaccine throughout West Virginia and remain disappointed by the Trump Administration’s failure to get these vaccines to the people that need them. Congress has provided significant funding to make more vaccines available to more people, including nearly $9 billion in the most recent COVID-19 relief package. I am working with the incoming Biden administration to get more vaccines to West Virginia, so that state and local leaders can plan for the appropriate vaccines they should have had all along. While it may take some time to right the ship, help is on the way.”
Capito: “President-elect Biden’s policies from Day One hurt American workers and our economy. Killing the Keystone XL pipeline and rejoining the Paris Agreement will eliminate good-paying jobs. This virtue signaling comes at the expense of low-income and rural families that rely upon industries opposed by liberal environmental groups. My constituents and I have not forgotten the harm brought by this approach under the Obama administration. In these next four years, it is imperative that Congress aggressively exercises oversight and pushes back on the worst impulses of Washington bureaucrats when it comes to West Virginians’ way of life.”
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (edited for space): “Withdrawing from the Paris agreement in 2017 was the right thing to do, so it’s an immense disappointment that President Biden would recommit our nation to provisions that will harm the American economy and thus our citizens. Our nation can accomplish a cleaner environment and a brighter future without the Paris accord’s draconian measures, measures that our competitors, China and India, do not have to follow to the same degree, even though they are the biggest polluters of the planet.
“That President Biden would halt the Keystone XL pipeline demonstrates a lack of commitment to American workers and our nation’s energy independence. New oil and gas pipelines like Keystone XL are crucial to each state’s economic vitality and durability. Shutting down pipeline construction does not bode well for West Virginia’s economy. Burdensome regulations increase our nation’s reliance on foreign oil, decrease good-paying jobs that put bread on the table for hundreds of thousands and increase energy costs for everyday Americans.
“We are concerned by news that President Biden will direct a wide-range review of environmental and energy policies, and our team would oppose any wholesale effort to erase four years of progress with a return to years of overreach and burdensome regulation. Our office successfully blocked the Obama-era’s Clean Power Plan and Waters of the United States rule, saving an untold number of jobs. We did not hesitate to act before. We will not again.
“We look forward to working with the Biden administration to find common ground to preserve the clean environment that everyone deserves, while doing so in a manner that saves jobs and coincides with the rule of law.”
