Committee on Education and Workforce

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, at the start of National Farmworkers Week (March 25-31), Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) joined Reps. Judy Chu (CA-27), Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03) and Alma Adams (NC-12) to introduce legislation to ensure the safety and health of workers who are exposed to dangerous heat conditions in the workplace. The Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention Act is named in honor of Asunción Valdivia who died in 2004 after picking grapes for ten hours straight in 105-degree temperatures.

NEWPORT NEWS, VA –Earlier today, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) applauded the Biden-Harris Administration for announcing a series of actions to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines to the hardest-hit and highest-risk communities across the country. With funding from the American Rescue Plan, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will invest almost $7.5 million to community health centers in Hampton Roads. As chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, Congressman Scott was critical in the drafting and passage of the American Rescue Plan.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), sent a letter to Secretary Marty Walsh urging the Department of Labor to take strong action to restore overtime pay protections for millions of workers. In the letter they state, “In 2016, the Obama Administration’s DOL finalized a rule (Obama Rule) that would have increased the salary threshold to the 40th percentile of earnings of full-time, salaried workers in the lowest wage Census Region, a rate equaling $47,476 in 2016. This threshold represented a conservative salary threshold. Historically, the salary threshold has ranged from the 35th to 55th percentile of weekly earnings for full-time, salaried workers nationwide.

Congressman Bobby Scott will be hosting another Telephone Town Hall to discuss the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. The town hall will take place on Monday, March 29th at 7:00 p.m. The purpose of this town hall will be to discuss how the American Rescue Plan will help end the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuild our economy by safely re-opening schools, ramping up vaccinations, putting money in people’s pockets and putting people back in jobs. Congressman Scott will also be joined by Dr. Danny Avula who is the coordinator for Virginia’s vaccine distribution.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Labor, and Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, filed resolutions of disapproval against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) “conciliation” rule. This rule tips the scale in favor of employers within EEOC’s process for settling claims the EEOC has already established have merit, making it harder for workers—tens of thousands of whom file discrimination charges with EEOC each year—to enforce their workplace rights.

WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Department of Education announced it would provide full debt relief to roughly 72,000 borrowers that were defrauded by Corinthian Colleges and ITT Technical Institute. “Today’s announcement means that tens of thousands of defrauded student loan borrowers will finally be granted the debt relief that they are legally entitled to receive. It has been more than four years since the Department of Education first concluded that these students had been cheated by their institutions and were deserving of full debt relief.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03), chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, and Rodney Davis (IL-13) led a bipartisan group in introducing the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA), a proposal to strengthen anti-discrimination protections for older workers. They were joined by six Republicans and six Democrats, including Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee Chair Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chair Alma Adams (NC-12).

WASHINGTON, DC – Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chairwoman Alma Adams (NC-12) released the following statement after the Department of Labor proposed a withdrawal of Trump-era rules that would have given companies broad power to misclassify employees as independent contractors and use subcontractors to evade responsibility for upholding workers’ rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act. "Today, the Biden Administration is once again delivering on its promise to stand up for workers and their families.