Committee on Education and Workforce

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Trump Administration announced enormous cuts to critical funding that supports outreach efforts to ensure people get coverage in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces for the upcoming enrollment season: “This latest effort by the Trump Administration to weaken enrollment by significantly cutting funding for advertising and outreach efforts for the ACA is deeply troubling and will only cause chaos and uncertainty. Those who respond to advertising tend to be healthier and younger, therefore cutting back on advertising will create an insurance pool that is older and sicker and cause an increase in premiums for everybody trying to buy insurance.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 156,000 jobs in August, with the unemployment rate at 4.4 percent. “Today’s jobs report shows that job growth under President Trump has slowed in comparison to the last six months of the Obama Administration. While some states are experiencing stagnant job growth and even job loss, the Trump Administration has still not offered a plan to increase wages and create jobs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), ranking member of the House Committee on Judiciary, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about a recent memo that showed intent of the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Education (ED) to reexamine the process by which the federal government ensures racial diversity on college campuses.

NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, issued the following statement on President Trump’s signing of H.R. 3218, the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2017, also known as the “Forever” G.I. Bill, into law yesterday. The legislation makes improvements to the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill, which was originally sponsored by former Senator Jim Webb and Congressman Scott and signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2008. The Post 9/11 G.I. Bill provides our men and women in uniform the full cost of a four year public college or university and housing benefits while enrolled in school. Congressman Scott was an original cosponsor of the “Forever” G.I. Bill.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, released the following statement after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its assessment of the impact of terminating cost-sharing payments. "Today, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the Trump administration's reckless actions continue to jeopardize access to health coverage for millions of Americans across the country. For months, the administration has injected uncertainty into the market by threatening to withhold payments legally owed to insurers. These payments directly help consumers afford their insurance and act as rebates to lower costs for low and moderate income families.

WASHINGTON – Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03) and John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13), the ranking members of the House Committees on Education and the Workforce and the Judiciary, respectively, issued the following statement after reports surfaced that the Department of Justice plans to attack and undermine affirmative action programs in colleges and universities. “While we cannot comment on the veracity of this alleged memo, we are deeply concerned by news reports that the Department of Justice intends to challenge the application of affirmative action programs in colleges and universities. What is already clear is the Trump Administration’s public record of attacking civil rights protections on multiple fronts. As ranking members, we led 86 Members of the House in an amicus brief in support of affirmative action programs in higher education.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Senate failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA): “As I have said many times before, if we are going to change the Affordable Care Act, we should improve it, not make it worse. In the middle of the night, Senate Republicans finally unveiled another disastrous version of Trumpcare and then voted on the legislation after having only seen the text two hours earlier. Unfortunately, this version of Trumpcare would leave 16 million fewer people without insurance and increase costs by 20 percent. This is not an improvement; that is why it was defeated.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Ranking Members of four House Committees with jurisdiction over health care expressed their willingness to work together with Republicans today to strengthen the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In a letter sent to the Chairmen of their respective committees, the four Democrats called on Republicans to set aside efforts to repeal the ACA and instead to focus on expanding access to health care and lowering the cost of coverage. The letter comes after the vote on Trumpcare failed in the Senate early this morning. The letter was signed by Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), and Budget Committee Ranking Member John Yarmuth (D-KY).