WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the Committee on Environment and Public Works advanced bills Tuesday regarding the opioid crisis, internet access, incentives for carbon capture technology and water infrastructure.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., cosponsored the four bills.
Capito and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., introduced the Opioid Addiction Recovery Fraud Prevention Act last week, which would allow the Federal Trade Commission to hand down addition penalties for opioid treatment scams and state attorneys the power to enforce provisions for protecting consumers.
“Nothing could be sadder to me than when you decide you’re going into treatment and then you end up in a fraudulent situation,” Capito told members of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
The same committee passed the Rural Reasonable and Comparable Wireless Act of 2018, which is aimed at closing the digital divide between urban and rural communities. The Federal Communications Commission would be responsible for establishing standards to determine if broadband and wireless services between areas are equitable.
“While progress has been made when it comes to improving access to rural broadband, we still have too many areas that continue to fall behind,” she said.
Sen. Margaret Hassan, D-N.H., is listed as the bill’s sponsor, while Capito, Cortez Masto and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. are cosponsors.
The Committee on Environment and Public Works passed the USE IT Act and America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 on Tuesday.
The USE IT Act would provide incentives for research regarding carbon dioxide capturing technology and efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Sens. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.; Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.; and Capito originally sponsored the bill on March 22, and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., became a cosponsor on Monday.
America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 would address issues regarding an aging workforce and the disposal of raw sewage. Capito is one of nine cosponsors of the bill, six of which are Republicans.