Committee on Education and Workforce
More on Committee on Education and Workforce
May 8, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after two of Virginia’s Marketplace insurers proposed significant premium increases for 2019. The insurers specifically attributed the premium hikes to the Republican repeal of the individual mandate and other initiatives adopted by the Trump administration, such as their plan to weaken the Obamacare Marketplace by loosening restrictions on junk health plans that undermine patient protections. “In response to repeated Republican attempts to sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA), I warned that the schemes would raise costs and the ultimate cost of their efforts would be paid by consumers. Unfortunately, we are now seeing the bill come due. As the insurers specifically spelled out, the significant premium hikes proposed for 2019 are a direct consequence of the politically motivated actions taken by the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans.
May 4, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 164,000 jobs in April, with the unemployment rate at 3.9 percent.
“The latest jobs report shows that our economy remains relatively stable, but the work is far from over and there are those in Congress working to undermine these economic gains. On average during President Obama’s last full year in office, the economy added roughly 195,000 jobs a month, far more than the 164,000 jobs added last month. Just a year ago, the House Republicans voted to pass the Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA), which would have caused almost 14 million Americans to lose health coverage this year.
April 25, 2018
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleague from Virginia, Congressman Garrett. I want to thank him for organizing this evening's Special Order, but first I want to commend him for his work as a Virginia State senator for making April 23 Barbara Johns Day in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
This April 23, Monday, marked the first official recognition of this important day in the Commonwealth.
Almost 64 years ago, the Supreme Court struck down lawful school segregation in the case of Brown v. Board of Education. What few people know is that Virginia was one of the four cases decided that day. There were three other States, and Washington, D.C., had another case that was decided the same day.
Virginia's involvement in Brown v. Board of Education stood out because that effort was led by a student, namely Barbara Johns. She was only 16 years of age. This stalwart figure in the struggle for equal education stood up to challenge the notion that African Americans should receive separate and unequal education under the law.
April 19, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and nine other Democrats submitted a public comment to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) about their request for information on whether to retain, rescind, or modify the 2014 Election Rule. The Obama-era rule streamlined the NLRB’s process for union elections, eliminating unnecessary litigation and delays which companies have used to suppress workers from organizing. Ranking Members Scott and Murray have repeatedly asked the Board for relevant information on how the 2014 Rule was working so the public can see whether it needs to be changed. The limited evidence the Board has produced clearly disproves business groups’ critiques of the rule—making it clear that this attempt to roll back the rule is simply a political attempt to make it harder for workers to join a union.
April 13, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – House and Senate Democratic Committee health leaders called on the Trump administration to withdraw a proposed rule that would encourage the sale of junk health plans that will undermine consumer protections, sabotage the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces, and expose consumers to great financial risk. The proposed rule, published on February 21, 2018, would extend the allowable duration of short-term, limited-duration insurance (STLDI) plans from three months to up to 12 months. House Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), House Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), House Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), Senate HELP Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), and Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) requested the withdrawal of the rule in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
April 5, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on the eighth anniversary of the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion, which took the lives of 29 coal miners. “Since the Upper Big Branch Mine (UBB) explosion that took the lives of 29 coal miners eight years ago, all five independent investigation reports by state and federal agencies agree that the mine operator violated multiple safety standards. Key safety controls, such as water sprays, were disabled which enabled a small fire to be sparked that led to a devastating disaster. Inadequate rock dusting enabled the fire to propagate into a massive coal dust explosion.
April 2, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on the eighth anniversary of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA). “The higher education reforms and investments made in SAFRA were historic in size and scope. As working families struggled to recover from the Great Recession, SAFRA brought relief to millions of students and parents. Notably, SAFRA made higher education more accessible and affordable by increasing the maximum Pell Grant award and indexing it to inflation; establishing the direct lending program that stopped using billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize corporate lenders; and strengthening investment in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs).
March 28, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) sent a public comment letter urging Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar to withdraw a harmful proposed rule that would allow hospitals, doctors, and other individuals and institutions to deny care to patients based on religious beliefs. The Members raised concerns that the HHS’s Office for Civil Rights’ proposed rule would ultimately allow for greater discrimination in America’s health care system.
March 27, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on the passing of Linda Brown, who, as a young child, was at the center of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ended legal segregation in public education: “The courage and conviction of a nine-year-old girl named Linda Brown and her family serve as a powerful marker in our nation’s long march toward educational equity. The 1954 landmark Supreme Court case that bears her name etched a powerful phrase into this country’s history: ‘separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.’ Yet today, more than 60 years after this decision, millions of public school students remain segregated by race and relegated to under-resourced, over-disciplined, and unequal educational opportunities. While the era of legal Jim Crow may be history, educational discrimination continues to threaten equal access to a quality public education. The work of Linda Brown is far from over.
March 23, 2018
WASHINGTON, DC – Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), and Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA)—the top Democrats on committees with jurisdiction over the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—today released the following joint statement to highlight the eighth anniversary of the law: “Today marks the eighth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, legislation that ended decades of insurance companies price gouging, setting lifetime limits, and discriminating against Americans with pre-existing conditions. For the first time in our nation's history, this landmark law expanded protections so that no matter where people lived or worked in the United States, their families would have access to affordable, comprehensive health care. Americans of all ages and all walks of life have benefitted.