WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Thursday she supports efforts to eliminate fraud impacting federal funds but wants more information about one step recently taken.

Asked during her weekly press briefing Thursday about a policy change taking effect Sunday that prevents green card holders from applying for Small Business Administration loans, Capito, R-W.Va., said she does not oppose providing support to non-citizen business owners who are in the country legally.

“If in fact there’s fraud in SBA – and I would have to think there probably is for them to make this decision – I support that,” she said. “However, I do support people that are here legally, that have gone through the process to get a green card and that want to grow the economy, should have some access to some help.”

Capito said she plans to ask the SBA if this is a temporary pause, how long it could last and if they believe this area is the source of the fraud.

“Honestly, the fraud is probably all across the program,” she said. “But highlighting this I think will be problematic to some of our businesses in West Virginia. And we’ve heard from them.”

Capito said the government needs to “make sure the precious dollars that our taxpayers pay every year go to the right place and are legally spent.

“The states are going to have to tighten their oversight,” she said. “They’ve been way too lax on this.”

Capito referred to allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Somali residents in Minneapolis that were a factor in the recent immigration crackdown there. She said California should probably be looked at next because of alleged fraud there.

During Tuesday’s State of the Union address, President Donald Trump announced Vice President JD Vance would be in charge of a national “war on fraud,” which Capito said she supports.

That was one of multiple positives the senator said she took away from Trump’s speech, the longest State of the Union on record.

“He tried to give us a renewed sense of optimism, which I think families in West Virginia and around our country like to hear,” Capito said.

She said Trump highlighted the way the Working Families Tax Cut Act, previously called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, had benefitted people by eliminating taxes on tips and overtime. And she praised the awarding of Purple Heart medals to Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe and the late U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, who were shot while patrolling with the National Guard in Washington, D.C., last year.

“Both of them embody the very best of West Virginia and our country,” Capito said.

Asked about ongoing talks with Iran over its nuclear program as Trump has deployed more aircraft and warships to the Middle East, Capito said she agrees with the president’s “very sincere demand that a diplomatic solution can be reached here or should be the real answer.”

However, Capito said Iran is the “greatest sponsor of terror anywhere in the world” and “we have to remember that, who we’re dealing with here.

“From the day they’re born, as an Iranian, they’re taught death to Americans,” she said. The possibility of Iran getting a nucl0ear weapon “should frighten every single one of us because we know their – as they’re killing their own people who are protesting them – their regard for human life is basically non-existent if you don’t believe as they do.”

Capito said Trump has not tipped his hand but if he’s leaning toward military action, he needs to inform “at least the big eight,” a reference to the so-called Gang of Eight that includes both parties’ House and Senate leaders and the four top lawmakers on each chamber’s intelligence committees.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.