Committee on Education and Workforce

WASHINGTON, DC – Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the White House announced a presidential memorandum to study the multiemployer pensions crisis. “After nearly four years in office and less than two weeks before the election, the White House finally woke up to the reality that there’s a multiemployer pensions crisis.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) subpoenaed several Education Department career staff for their deposition in an investigation into the Department’s role in the misconduct of Dream Center Education Holdings, a for-profit higher education company. After over a year of investigation, the Committee found that Under Secretary Diane Auer Jones – a former for-profit education lobbyist – worked extensively on behalf of Dream Center despite knowing that two of its schools had lost their accreditation and were improperly receiving taxpayer funding.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) and Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chair Alma Adams (NC-12) wrote to the heads of the Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) questioning a recent OSHA policy change that will result in sharply reduced reporting of COVID-related workplace hospitalizations and fatalities and undermine efforts to protect the safety of workers.

WASHINGTON, DC – Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) and Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Chairman Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Mariana Islands) issued the following statement after the Government Accountability Office released a report finding that the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered and worsened K-12 schools’ recovery from recent natural disasters across the country.

WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement regarding the White House’s latest coronavirus relief offer. “The erratic behavior coming from the White House this week is a perfect example of why it has been so difficult to negotiate relief for the American people. The Trump administration fundamentally does not grasp the urgency or scale of this crisis. And the latest proposal — which falls woefully short of providing meaningful relief for students, workers, and families — is further evidence that this White House does not have a comprehensive plan to defeat the virus.

WASHINGTON, DC – Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) demanded answers from Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Perdue about a troubling report that some faith-based organizations participating in the Farmers to Families Food Box program, which has already been plagued by mismanagement, are subjecting participants to unsolicited religious activity. The reports include instances of faith-based organizations placing religious messages in food boxes, directing the distribution of food boxes to church members, using the food boxes to solicit donations and encouraging families to pray before receiving food boxes.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) and Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Chair Frederica S. Wilson (FL-24) sent a letter to Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Acting Assistant Secretary Jeanne Wilson to express concern regarding the potential misuse of fixed indemnity coverage by employers to evade the requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other consumer protection laws.

WASHINGTON, DC –In a letter to U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Eugene Scalia, Senate and House Democrats requested information regarding his Department’s involvement in the watering down of Centers for Disease Control recommendations to a South Dakota meatpacking plant that experienced a major COVID-19 outbreak. The letter was sent by House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chair Alma Adams (NC-12), Senate Employment and Workforce Subcommittee Ranking Member Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA).