dbeard@dominionpost.com

MORGANTOWN – Sen. Shelley Moore Capito fielded some questions during her Thursday briefing with West Virginia reporters on this week’s job cuts at the Morgantown NIOSH office, and the earlier cuts at the Morgantown National Energy Technology Laboratory.

About 185 researchers in the NIOSH division in Morgantown received layoff notices on Tuesday as part of the Department of Health and Human Services plan to cut about 10,000 employees from the department.

“I am extremely concerned about this,” Capito said. “This is impacting and will impact not only the folks that were let go, and their families, but also the health and safety of our coal miners and firefighters.”

She said she talked to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week about his plan in general, urging him to avoid cutting HHS to the bone. She understands the desire to trim duplication and bloating, “but in this case I have strong disagreements with the administration.”

And she was slated for another call with RFK Jr. on Thursday afternoon to delve into the issue again.

Asked if she looked for any jobs being restored, she said she’s concerned about the people and what they do – how they keep the miners and firefighters safe. “I’m hoping to effect a brighter outlook from him, that you have cut into the bone here in an essential service for workplace safety.”

She hopes he will restore the functions and the people, she said. She’s seen layoffs and administrative leaves reversed earlier in this Trump administration government trimming process.

She’s been in contact with some of those who’ve lost jobs, she said, to offer assistance. She believes agencies have offered assistance as well. Some might take up the standing offer of early retirement.

MetroNews’ Mike Nolting asked Capito if she knows how many are left at NIOSH.

She said, “We’re trying to get clarification, precisely. It appears that there’s not much left.” The question is on the nature of the jobs – do they duplicate functions provided elsewhere at HHS.

The Dominion Post asked Capito about the probationary employees laid off at NETL in February as part of the nationwide elimination of probationary positions.

As it turned out, the NETL director was in her office before the press call, she said. The employees were asked to return, and of 51 cut, 41 are back to work.

“The goal of what’s going on here,” she said, “as painful as it is, is to shrink government, to make it right sized … to make it work more efficiently and better.” If those goals are met, the services delivered will be as good as they’ve been, possibly better.

The press call came between Capito trips to the Senate floor for votes, and she noted that the Senate was starting work on the reconciliation measure to extend the 2017 Trump tax bill, the Tax and Jobs Investment Act. This one is called the Job Creation and Tax Act.

“It created a lot of prosperity across the country,” she said. “Everybody got tax relief and I want to continue that.”

The measure also addresses border security, national security and – a topic crucial to West Virginia, she said – unleashing American energy. It’s an extended process, and the next step is to craft policies to match the aspirational goals they’re formulating now.