This includes Federal Emergency Management Agency relief associated with the federal disaster that was declared last year in the wake of the disastrous flooding that claimed the lives of nine people and devastated neighborhoods in Ohio County along Little Wheeling Creek.

“I think for right now, the FEMA payments are stuck because of the partial shutdown in Homeland Security, and FEMA is a part of that,” Capito said during a visit to Wheeling on Tuesday.

The current partial government shutdown began last Saturday in a standoff over funding issues and oversight of the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats in Congress have demanded new restrictions on activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – one of the agencies under the Homeland Security umbrella – along with the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customers and Border Protection and FEMA.

Lawmakers in Washington, D.C. were able to get 11 of 12 appropriations bills passed this year, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security bill.

Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder, Assistant City Manager Bill Lanham, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and City Manager Robert Herron, from left, gathered along with several other city leaders Tuesday inside the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters in East Wheeling. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

“We got all 11 bills all the way through with a presidential signature except for the one, and that’s Homeland Security, because of what’s going on with ICE and the border and disagreements on how to spend there,” Capito said. “The bad news there is that it’s the TSA, the Coast Guard, Secret Service, CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), they’re working because they’re considered essential – which they are, but they’re sort of under the gun wondering if they’re going to get paid.

“That’s why I voted repeatedly to fund Homeland Security and keep it open because of the TSA, Secret Service, FEMA, Coast Guard and really essential Homeland Security issues.”

Despite the standoff on the Homeland Security bill, the agencies that are at the center of the controversy have already been funded.

“ICE and border patrol are going to be paid regardless,” Capito said. “We funded them six months ago in another bill. So hopefully this will get settled quickly. I saw where the Democrats and the president are negotiating. Hopefully they’ll come to some sort of conclusion.”

The last time Capito toured the area was during the June floods that prompted the federal disaster declaration. First responders on hand during her visit Tuesday informed her that there is still a long way to go on the road to recovery from the disastrous and deadly flooding.

Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder, Assistant City Manager Bill Lanham, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and City Manager Robert Herron, from left, gathered along with several other city leaders Tuesday inside the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters in East Wheeling. (Photo by Eric Ayres)

“One of the things that I keep hearing from people in the Elm Grove neighborhood and from our neighbors out in Valley Grove and Triadelphia is the condition of Wheeling Creek since that terrible flood in June,” Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder told Capito. “There’s an awful lot of debris and stuff that remains, and I think the residents out there are frightened. If there is anything we can do to accelerate that stream cleanup or dredging would be extremely helpful.”

Local officials noted that it is not just tree limbs and debris that remains in some of the creeks – it is large shipping containers and other obstructions that could block the flow of water and contribute to more dangerous flooding.

“This frustrates me because we’ve seen the aftermath of floods, or even you could almost go and look at streams like you can right now and go ‘this is just a recipe for disaster,'” Capito said. “FEMA is supposed to have pre-disaster mitigation dollars to clear out debris and change the waterway so it’s not as prone to flooding.”

Capito said mitigation funding from FEMA is administered at the state level, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will also work on mitigation, too, although the process with the Army Corps can be somewhat challenging.

“We need to follow up with FEMA on that,” she said. “I believe that if we spend more money up front, we’re going to spend less money on the down side.

“Otherwise, it’s just going to flood again, we’re going to pay three times more and people are going to lose their lives.”

This kind of dilemma happens when confusion over responsibility falls somewhere between the different agencies, Capito indicated, noting that they plan to follow up on these important unresolved issues.

“On behalf of the FEMA people that we were working with, we had a great process with that, but we’d just like to speed up the process when they issue the checks,” Wheeling’s Assistant City Manager Bill Lanham told Capito.

“Everybody is nice except for when it comes to writing the checks,” added Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron, noting that public assistance from the April 2024 heavy rains and floods has not been received. “We haven’t gotten a check yet.”

The spring floods in 2024 left Wheeling Island under water twice, caused significant road slips and brought millions of dollars worth of damage to the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant. That flood was also declared a federal disaster, and city leaders have been anticipating reimbursement from various eligible repairs that have since taken place.

“It shouldn’t take that long,” Capito said. “That shouldn’t happen because it’s almost two years ago. People are waiting and expecting it.”

Capito noted that the current partial government shutdown obviously is not to blame for this delay in payments, but it also is not helping the cause.

“FEMA is part of the shutdown, but that’s only been three days,” she said. “I think this will get resolved sooner than later, at least I’m hoping so. And then we can start badgering FEMA for the public assistance checks.”

Among the appropriations not impacted by the partial government shutdown were Congressionally Directed Spending for several area projects that Capito and other legislators secured. Part of the senator’s visit to Wheeling centered on these projects. She visited not only the new Wheeling Fire Department Headquarters but also Oglebay, Independence Hall, the Wheeling Artisan Center, the Capitol Theatre and other locations.

“We waved at the old Knights Inn that’s no longer there,” she said. “That’s going to look great when the Gateway Center gets there.”

Capito noted her ties to the Northern Panhandle community and noted that she was happy to see all of the progress on local developments moving forward in the area.

“Wheeling to me is not just a soft spot in my heart because my mother and dad and I were living down in Glen Dale for a long time in a large period of our lives,” she said. “Wheeling was like coming to the big city, and I spent a lot of really nice time in Wheeling as a young girl, but also up at Oglebay with my parents.

“It’s great to be back.”