Committee on Education and Workforce

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.

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.

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.

WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on the National Labor Relations Board Office of Inspector General’s Report of Investigation involving Member William Emanuel’s violation of his ethics pledge: “The Inspector General’s investigation confirms that Member William Emanuel violated his ethics pledge by participating in a case where he had a conflict of interest. In doing so, Member Emanuel has undermined the public’s confidence in the Board’s ability to protect workers’ rights in an impartial manner. I have previously called on the Chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce to conduct a hearing on this manner, and I reiterate that call today, so we can hear from the Inspector General and get a full understanding of his findings and what is being done to prevent this from happening again.”

WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s ruling to vacate the U.S. Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services; Congressman Dan Kildee (D-MI), Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services; and Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) issued the following statement. The common sense rule, which is partially in effect, simply requires financial advisers to act in the best interests of their retirement clients. Up to this point, several federal district courts and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have upheld the rule.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and Workforce, sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos requesting the Department of Education (ED) maintain a 2014 School Discipline Guidance Package. The guidance, developed jointly with the Department of Education and the Department of Justice (DOJ), was issued to remind schools of their legal obligations to administer school discipline without discriminating on the base of race, color, or national origin. The Ranking Member requested that any decision from the Department to rescind or alter the guidance be made after the public has access to a new, soon to be published a GAO report regarding disparities in discipline policies and practices applied to students of color, boys, and students with disabilities.

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), Ranking Member of the Education and Workforce Committee, along with top Democrats, sent a letter to Peter Robb, General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), requesting that he resume the litigation of the McDonald’s case. The General Counsel decided to pursue settlement of the McDonald’s case – with only a handful of days remaining before the close of hearings. “[W]e are troubled that your decision to prematurely suspend this litigation adversely impacts the charging parties’ due process rights,” the Members wrote. “Imposing a settlement that the charging parties do not approve would risk denying them recourse for the harms the General Counsel’s office alleged in its complaints. For that reason, it appears both imprudent with respect to resources already committed, and unfair to the charging parties to prematurely terminate prosecution of this matter.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Trump administration released their proposals for school safety. “Yesterday’s school safety proposals from the Trump administration are both inadequate and concerning. The administration has misplaced its focus on arming school personnel and dismantling civil rights protections for students instead of offering meaningful, evidence-based solutions to gun violence prevention. Our students and families do not need a federal Commission to study violence prevention, when real solutions that curb access to high-powered firearms and evidence-based violence prevention strategies are readily available.