Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., center, is joined from left by Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as she offers remarks following the Senate Republicans policy luncheon at the Capitol Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

CHARLESTON — U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday she will thoroughly review the qualifications of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks and laid out what she sees as priorities for the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate next year.

Capito held a virtual briefing Thursday with West Virginia reporters, a day after she was elected by her GOP colleagues as the incoming chairwoman of the Republican Policy Committee.

That will make her fourth in rank in the incoming Senate Republican majority leadership team, as well as the only woman in Senate GOP leadership.

“I will be not just at the leadership table, but I will be leading the policy committee, which is the one that really does the deep dive on all the policies,” said Capito, R-W.Va. “I’m very excited to be the policy chair. I think West Virginia gets a voice. I’m the only woman on the leadership table at this point, and I’m very happy to be serving.”

One of the first things that will happen next year when the Republican Senate majority takes the leadership reins will be reviewing and consenting to nominations from incoming President Donald Trump for cabinet positions. Trump has already named eight individuals for cabinet positions that will require confirmation by the U.S. Senate, which is constitutionally required to advise and consent on cabinet-level positions.

Nominees so far include U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for secretary of state; South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for Department of Homeland Security; former Texas congressman John Ratcliffe as CIA director; former New York congressman Lee Zeldin for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., for U.N. ambassador.

Other nominees are raising eyebrows on Capitol Hill, including now-former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Fox News Weekend host and National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, and former Democratic Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence.

Capito expressed no specific opinions on any of Trump’s nominees in Thursday’s briefings, though she said she had a friendly relationship with Gabbard when they served together in the House and praised Hegseth’s military service. But she said that each nominee would be thoroughly reviewed.

“We’re a long way from having the committees actually move forward to have testimony, to gather information,” Capito said. “Once we get to that point, I think I’ll have a little bit clearer explanation. But the President has the right to nominate whomever he wants and he’s certainly exercising that.”

Capito foresees Congress moving quickly next year on Trump’s public policy priorities, such as immigration reform and southern border security, tax cuts and economic stimulus, reducing regulatory burdens, and an updated energy policy.

“We have to have a serious, all-of-the-above energy policy and not pick winners and losers like the Biden administration has been doing,” Capito said. “And that means moving forward and discovering our own resources and getting those resources to the appropriate place, whether it’s manufacturing or whether it’s power generation.”

Capito said that despite a bill from U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee dealing with permitting reform for energy, broadband, and other infrastructure projects awaiting action by a lame duck Congress, it’s likely that lawmakers will wait until next year and craft a new permitting reform package. But she expressed support for the bill co-sponsored by Manchin, I-W.Va.

“What I would look for as we turn the corner into the new year is permitting reform that not just is encompassing energy projects, but encompasses all kinds of projects that need permits,” Capito said. “I would expect that we would be looking at a broader permitting reform package if we didn’t move forward in December…It could still go, though. I want to leave that door open there, because I’m very supportive of those efforts.”

Capito will also become the new chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where she has served as the ranking Republican member during Democratic Party control of the Senate. She will also chair the Labor-Health and Human Services subcommittee on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which directs billions of dollars to states for health care initiatives and substance use disorder funding.

Capito will be in Kanawha County today for a summit on the opioid crisis in West Virginia, hearing from state and local leaders involved with law enforcement, substance use disorder treatment and recovery, and addiction research and prevention.

“I wanted to see…what areas have we really achieved success in and where do we have to have more successful,” Capito said. “We’ll talk about recovery. We’ll talk about the law enforcement aspects of this. We’ll also talk about some of the bills that we put into effect in terms of how it’s affecting families, our families, is there preventive measures and how they are doing…This is going to be a kind of a recap of how far we’ve come in some sense, but so also how much further we have to go.”