CHARLESTON – Senior U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is now confirmed to take the gavel for the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, while junior U.S. Senator-Elect Jim Justice received his first committee assignments.

While members of Congress were working Friday night to pass an 11th hour continuing resolution to keep the federal government funded through March, U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. – the incoming Senate Majority Whip for the 116th Congress beginning in January – released a list of committee assignments for U.S. Senate.

Capito, R-W.Va., will become chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, where she has served as the ranking Republican member working with outgoing EPW Chairman Tom Carper, D-Del. Republican regained the majority in the U.S. Senate after the November elections, holding 53 of the 100 seats in the chamber.

Capito was elected by her caucus last month as the incoming chairwoman of the Republican Policy Committee, making her the fourth most power person in Senate Republican leadership. Capito will be the 18th chair of the committee since its founding in 1947. The Republican Policy Committee helps develop the legislative agenda of the Senate Republican caucus and provides policy recommendations to GOP members.

Capito will maintain her position on the power Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as committee slots on the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

After several false starts in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congress passed a continuing resolution for the federal government, providing funding through March 14 of next year. Capito was one of supporters of the final CR, but she placed blame on outgoing Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for not bringing to vote several appropriations bills that could have allowed lawmakers to avoid a last-minute CR fight.

“While I am glad we took the responsible step to avoid a shutdown–which would have had a detrimental impact to essential services that Americans rely on–we should not have been in this predicament in the first place,” Capito said in a statement. “Despite having done our work on the Appropriations Committee months ago, Leader Schumer’s inaction on these committee-passed bills forced us into the current ‘govern by CR’ scenario.”

Justice, who is finishing his second and final term as governor before taking his U.S. Senate seat next month, was appointed to four committees: the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; the Senate Special Committee on Aging; and the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.

Justice will also serve on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, replacing U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va. Manchin, who retires at the end of the year after two full six-year terms, and chairs the ENR Committee.

During a November administration briefing prior to his election to the U.S. Senate, Justice expressed interest in being appointed to the ENR Committee.

“What am I the best at? I surely know a ton about energy, do I not,” said Justice, the owner of several coal mining companies in West Virginia and other states. “In this state, we need absolutely representatives (on ENR) because we need a national energy policy so bad it is off the chart…We could be the Saudi Arabia of the whole universe.”