U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito is intensifying her criticism of the Trump administration’s plan to consolidate agencies, cutting jobs at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) facility in Morgantown.
During a briefing with reporters this week, Capito defended the Morgantown NIOSH facility as essential to protecting health. “We’re still making a case here that this is a unique institution that does research in a very unique way… and has a record of success,” she said.
Though the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) claims the restructuring is still under consideration, Capito is pressing for firm commitments that key public health responsibilities will continue—and remain accessible to the miners who need them most.
“It’s pretty explicit in the law that the accessibility and requirement that we have a federal black lung program—you have to be certified to get into it,” she said. “NIOSH does the certifications, and to obtain your black lung benefits, that is in the law. So that function needs to go forward.”
Capito dismissed reassurances from federal officials that CWHSP might be continued under a different program name—reportedly as part of a rebranded “Make America Healthy Again” initiative—as inadequate.
“That’s an insufficient answer in this case,” Capito said. “We have pending applications. We have sometimes very severe health problems associated with black lung; it can be a killer in a lot of ways. And to me, I think the more time we waste, the sicker people are going to get.”
Attorneys representing HHS have insisted that the federal government still intends to fulfill its obligations under the Mine Act and could transfer CWHSP responsibilities to other offices. But Capito has said that’s not good enough.
Her stance puts her at odds with other West Virginia Republicans who have expressed continued trust in Trump’s administration. Capito, however, is clearly drawing a line when it comes to bureaucratic restructuring.
