Greenbrier County Commissioners Woody Hanna, Lowell Rose, and Mike McClung joined more than three dozen West Virginia county leaders at the White House for a day of meetings with key administration officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn, Secretary of Labor R. Alexander Acosta, and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway.

They discussed how federal policies impact West Virginia counties and residents. Topics included the opioid epidemic, economic and workforce development, infrastructure, health care reform, local NASA programs, and transportation.

“It was an honor to be invited by the White House to discuss our county’s priorities,” said Commissioner Hanna. “We plan to follow up with the officials we met and continue discussions about how the federal government can help us serve county residents.”

In addition to Secretary Acosta, county commissioners heard from federal departments and agencies, including the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Small Business Administration, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Transportation, Health and Human Services and the White House Economic Council.

“This was a great opportunity for county commissioners to tell the White House about the challenges and opportunities we face at the local level,” said County Commissioners’ Association of West Virginia Executive Director Vivian Parsons. “Federal policies have real consequences in counties across our state, and we’ll continue to work with the administration to inform those policies.”

Prior to the White House meeting, county leaders participated in a federal policy briefing at the National Association of Counties. U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito joined the group to discuss the federal budget, tax reform, economic development and other legislative activity on Capitol Hill.

West Virginia commissioners were the sixth group of county officials to attend such an event. County leaders from Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Missouri were invited to the White House earlier this year.