Latest news with #ShelleyMooreCapito
Axios
a day ago
- Business
- Axios
Trump admin to release funding for after-school programs
The Trump administration announced Friday it will release a portion of the frozen funds for after-school programs after facing bipartisan pressure to release the funds. The big picture: The funding delay exacerbated uncertainty over after-school, summer and other educational programs, and left schools in limbo. Driving the news: A White House Office of Management and Budget spokesperson told Axios that a review of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is over and funds will be released to the states. The program is the only source of federal funding exclusively dedicated to after-school initiatives. "Guardrails have been put in place to ensure these funds are not used in violation of Executive Orders," the OMB spokesperson said in an email. The White House and Department of Education did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. Zoom out: The release of the fund came after ten GOP senators issued a public letter this week, urging the administration to release the funding. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito ( who was among the Republican lawmakers who signed onto the letter, celebrated the update Friday, saying that the Department of Education "is releasing crucial funds to states that support after school and summer education programs." More than 20 governors have also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for withholding the educational funding. The governors said the funding freeze has "caused chaos" in their states' educational systems. Catch up quick: States across the U.S. have been missing an estimated $6.2 billion in federal education funding across five programs that were expected to be released by the Trump administration on July 1. That included funding for after-school and summer learning through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, money to support migratory children, educator development funds and more. The Education Department said in a last-minute notice July 1 that the funds would not be released while the programs were under review, according to the School Superintendents Association.
Politico
3 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
'Contrary to President Trump's goal': Senate Republicans urge administration to release $7B in school aid
Wednesday's letter, led by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.V.), was also signed by Republican Sens. John Boozman (Arkansas), Katie Britt (Alabama), Susan Collins (Maine), Deb Fischer (Nebraska), John Hoeven (North Dakota), Jim Justice (West Virginia), Mitch McConnell (Kentucky), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Mike Rounds (South Dakota). Lawmakers also pushed back on the administration's claims that at least some of the money has been used to subsidize what OMB officials have described as 'a radical leftwing agenda.' OMB has confirmed the education funds are under review as part of Trump's broader agenda of scrutinizing programs related to immigration and LGBTQ+ issues. Public schools in New York used money for students who are immigrants or speak limited English 'to promote illegal immigrant advocacy organizations,' the administration has said, without providing specifics. The budget office also asserted Washington state used funds 'to direct illegal immigrants towards scholarships intended for American students.' Elsewhere, school improvement funds were used 'to conduct a seminar on 'queer resistance in the arts,'' the administration added. OMB did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. 'We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs. However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds,' the senators wrote. 'These funds go to support programs that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school aged children which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies.' The Trump administration told lawmakers and state officials last month that it was reviewing the congressionally appropriated education grant funding that Trump signed into law earlier this year — and will not send the money to states until that review is complete. Vought has suggested to Senate appropriators that the funding could be the target of a future rescissions package — a legislative mechanism for clawing back funds already approved by Congress. Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have also proposed cutting some of the affected programs in their budget pitch for the coming year. But the current delay is sowing a sense of anxiety and confusion across school systems that rely on federal money to keep programs running and staffed. School districts represented by Republicans in Congress stand to lose more per-pupil dollars from the funding freeze, according to recent estimates published by New America, a progressive-leaning think tank. Across four federal programs for K-12 students, New America estimated the average school district represented by a Republican stands to lose 1.6 times as much funding per pupil as the average school district represented by a Democrat.
E&E News
11-07-2025
- Business
- E&E News
How a new coal credit snuck into the GOP megabill
A West Virginia Republican whose family owns a sprawling coal business helped lead the quiet, last-minute effort to add a lucrative tax credit to the GOP megabill that could net the fossil fuel industry tens of millions of dollars. Sen. Jim Justice, a longtime champion of fossil fuels, played a pivotal role in adding a provision to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that delivered a tax win for the coal sector in a law that also claws back incentives for renewable energy projects. By his side was fellow West Virginia Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee, who worked behind the scenes to tweak the House version of the package, according to her office. Advertisement 'She partnered with Senator Justice — who led this effort — in getting this [coal] provision added to the bill,' Kelley Moore, Capito's communications director, said in a statement. Capito, she added, was 'very supportive of this initiative.' Now, companies angling to dig up metallurgical coal used for making steel — including those tied to Justice's family — are eligible for the advanced manufacturing production credit, known as 45X, first established in the inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to boost domestic production of energy components and critical minerals. Under the new language, metallurgical coal is deemed a critical mineral and producers are eligible for a 2.5 percent tax credit through 2029, regardless of whether their coal is used to make steel in the U.S. or abroad. Justice, in an interview with POLITICO's E&E News, said he was one of multiple people pushing for the new language. The senator said he wanted the credit to help companies dealing with dropping met coal processes and mine layoffs. Indeed, metallurgical coal export prices have fallen by 33.6 percent in the last year, according to a July 1 report from the Energy Information Administration 'Major coal companies, metallurgical coal companies, are closing,' the senator said. 'This is just throwing a bone to the metallurgical producers to, some way, somehow, keep them going.' Justice and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito ( are seen with Justice's dog, Babydog, last month. | Francis Chung/POLITICO Personal gain? Justice said the language aligns with President Donald Trump's goal of upping steel production. But the senator's family is also deeply entwined with the coal sector. Justice's family owns a company called Bluestone Coal, which produces metallurgical coal and stands to benefit from the tax credit. According to a financial disclosure form filed last year, Justice owns more than $50 million in stock in Bluestone Resources Inc., more than $25 million in Bluestone Coal Corp. as well as more than $25 million in an inactive processing facility in Alabama. Justice's son now controls Bluestone, according to the West Virginia secretary of state's website. The company could not be reached for comment. William O'Grady, Justice's communications director, said that congressional leadership worked to get the provision into the bill 'because it was a priority of the President,' not because of any personal benefit to Justice. 'This tax credit will keep metallurgical coal miners employed and is right in line with the President's EO designating coal as a critical earth mineral,' O'Grady said. 'The perception that this coal tax credit was pushed to benefit the Senator is an empty condemnation by people who really just don't like the bill all together,' he added. 'Very meaningful' Other metallurgical coal producers say the new credit will be a boon for an industry that continues to see layoffs and bankruptcies fueled by tough market conditions and depressed prices. '2.5 percent is helpful, especially in a down market,' said Randall Atkins, founder of Kentucky-based Ramaco Resources, which mines both coal and minerals. 'I'm not quite sure that we've worked out all of the math yet, but depending on … how much coal you're producing, it could certainly be very meaningful.' But the legislative addition has drawn blistering criticism from conservation groups and former Trump ally Elon Musk, who blasted the megabill for killing renewables while funding fossil fuels. 'Utterly insane and destructive,' Musk wrote on X shortly after the bill's passage. 'It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.' Conservation groups argued that the bulk of metallurgical coal in the U.S. is shipped overseas for making steel, meaning U.S. taxpayers would be funding materials intended for other countries' markets. When asked about the export landscape, Justice said he was 'not at all' concerned about the new credit bolstering Asian steelmaking, given how 'minuscule' in size the new funding is. At 2.5 percent, the credit is significantly less than the 10 percent advanced manufacturing production credit other critical minerals receive in the bill. 'If all we have is enough coal for the domestic market, the mine can't make it,' Justice said. 'As long as the coal is going to make steel, you know, then indirectly, we may benefit, but primarily we benefit from the standpoint that the mine is operational.' GOP departure? Even though Republicans moved to repeal credits for wind and solar, they were more generous to energy sources they prefer, including nuclear and geothermal. Some conservatives would have rather done away with credits altogether. 'I was very surprised to see this happen, and I was very confused about the general policy principle they were using to add this in,' said Shuting Pomerleau, director of energy and environmental policy at the center-right American Action Forum 'The conventional Republican thinking is that if a business needs to rely on tax credits to survive or to be profitable, then this business, it doesn't really have a good business case, it should just go away,' she added. Tom Pyle, president of the conservatively-aligned American Energy Alliance, said tax credits undermine market efficiency and long-term energy affordability and that his group believes all energy sources should compete based on cost, reliability and performance — not political favoritism. 'Tax credits like the 45X provision distort energy markets by allowing the government to pick winners and losers,' said Pyle. 'The direct or indirect subsidization of any form of energy invites further government intervention and erodes the level playing field that drives innovation and consumer choice.' Green groups argue the provision is just one of many handouts the GOP tucked in the bill to bolster the production and use of coal. The legislation also slashes coal royalty rates from 12.5 percent to 7 percent and opens 4 million acres of public land for expanded coal mining. Cameron Walkup, an associate legislative representative at Earthjustice, blasted lawmakers for quietly adding the provision into the bill with no debate or transparency and said the language amounts to a production tax credit for an industry that already exports the vast majority of its product overseas. 'This provision was air dropped in at the last minute,' said Walkup. 'There was no debate or any substantive conversation about what this would actually mean or why it was being added.' He added: 'It simply gives them a tax break on behalf of the American taxpayers.'
Bloomberg
10-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Trump Rescissions Package Faces Key Vote in Senate
West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito talks the future of Trump's rescissions package in the senate and what impact that vote could have on government funding negotiations in the fall. (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg
10-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Senate Begins Funding Process Amidst Threat of Shutdown
On the early edition of Balance of Power, Bloomberg Washington Correspondents Joe Mathieu and Kailey Leinz discuss the Senate advancing the first tranche of government-funding bills and Trump's rescission package facing key vote. On today's show Representative Chuck Fleischman (R-TN), Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Bellwether Government Affairs CEO Arshi Siddiqui, Stonecourt Capital Partner Rick Davis, and Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs David Shimer. (Source: Bloomberg)
