Committee on Education and Workforce
More on Committee on Education and Workforce
December 2, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) delivered the following remarks on the House floor in support of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2017. Congressman Scott, as Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, was appointed to the conference committee in July and successfully advocated for the removal of several harmful workplace provisions that were eliminated from the final bill text.
“Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.
“I have the honor of representing Hampton Roads, Virginia, the heart of our nation’s shipbuilding industrial base. So I want to underscore my support for the shipbuilding and ship maintenance provisions in the bill, including the language urging the Secretary of the Navy to speed up the procurement schedule for aircraft carriers to ensure that our carrier fleet is not again reduced to 10 carriers. These provisions will not only significantly benefit my region, but will be critical to our nation’s security.
December 2, 2016
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017.
Before addressing matters of concern to the Education and the Workforce Committee, I want to underscore my strong support for the shipbuilding and ship maintenance provisions. I have the honor of representing Hampton Roads, Virginia, the heart of our nation's shipbuilding industrial base. I strongly support the conference report's shipbuilding and ship maintenance provisions, specifically language urging the Secretary of the Navy to speed up the procurement schedule for aircraft carriers to ensure that our carrier fleet is not again reduced to 10 carriers. These provisions in the conference report will not only significantly benefit my region, but will be critical for our nation's security. I'd like to commend Congressman FORBES and Congressman COURTNEY for their efforts on this area.
November 17, 2016
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 5982, the so-called Midnight Rules Relief Act, which amends the Congressional Review Act. This bill would allow Congress to consider a joint resolution to simultaneously disapprove multiple regulations en bloc, all at once, when such rules are issued within the last 60 legislative days of a session of Congress in the final year of a President's term. Now, that is legislative days. In this case, 60 legislative days would reach back until May of this year, almost 8 months before the end of the President's term. To call the rules issued last spring a midnight rule is a curious use of the word.
November 4, 2016
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added a total of 161,000 jobs in October, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.9 percent.
“The October jobs report shows that our economy added 161,000 jobs. The longest streak of total job growth on record continued and U.S. businesses have now added 15.5 million jobs since early 2010. Just last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the third quarter of 2016, with strong export growth and continued strength in consumer spending. While we celebrate this progress, we also remain committed to making meaningful investments in our nation’s families and in our economy to ensure that our growing prosperity is broadly shared.
October 11, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, October 14, 2016, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce will join officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to tour the Buchanan Mine #1 in Buchanan County, Virginia. On Saturday, October 15, 2016, Congressman Scott will also host a roundtable to discuss reforms to the black lung benefits program with miners, medical professionals and legal representatives in Wise, Virginia. In the U.S. House of Representatives, Congressman Scott serves as the Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has oversight of federal worker health and safety programs, including mine safety, the Black Lung Benefits Act, and the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act, as well as pensions and employer-provided health care.
Congressman Scott has sponsored the Robert C. Byrd Mine Safety Protection Act (H.R. 1926), which would provide the Mine Safety and Health Administration with tools it needs to better protect miners, including subpoena authority to conduct investigations and inspections. He is also the lead cosponsor of the Black Lung Benefits Improvements Act (H.R. 3625), which would ensure coal companies and their lawyers share all medical evidence with claimants and provide additional legal resources to miners with eligible claims. Congressman Scott is also a cosponsor of the Coal Healthcare and Pensions Protection Act (H.R. 2403), a bipartisan bill that would transfer excess funds from the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund to cover shortfalls in the UMWA health care and coal miner pension funds.
October 7, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added a total of 156,000 jobs in September with the unemployment rate at 5 percent. The economy has added a total of 15.3 million private sector jobs since early 2010.
“While we have experienced great economic gains over the last seven years, today’s jobs report shows that our work here in Congress is far from over. There are families and individuals struggling to find work, and those who are working still lack basic workplace support and protections.
September 28, 2016
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I stand in opposition to H.R. 6094, the inappropriately named Regulatory Relief for Small Businesses, Schools, and Nonprofits Act.
First of all, it is not limited to those. It is for all employers. It would delay the implementation of the overtime rule for 6 months. The rule is currently slated to go into effect on December 1, and working families can't wait another 6 months for a long-overdue adjustment in the overtime rule.
We ought to talk a little bit about what we are talking about. If today you are earning $10 an hour, if you work more than 40 hours a week, you get time-and-a-half for every hour worked over 40. And if they change that to the same amount, instead of $10 an hour, $20,000 a year, you still get time-and-a-half for overtime after 40 hours because your salary is under the approximately $23,000 threshold.
September 22, 2016
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5963, the Supporting Youth Opportunity and Preventing Delinquency Act. The legislation, sponsored by Representatives Bobby Scott (D-VA-03) and Carlos Curbelo (R-FL-26), reauthorizes for the first time since 2002 the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974 to help states and local communities better serve at-risk youth and juvenile offenders. The legislation also includes language based on Congressman Scott’s Youth PROMISE Act (H.R. 2197) that restructures JJDPA’s Local Delinquency Prevention Grants to encourage communities to plan and implement evidence-based prevention and intervention programs specifically designed to reduce juvenile delinquency and gang involvement.
September 20, 2016
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Kline, Subcommittee Chair ROKITA, and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Curbelo) for their work, and also, on our side, Representatives DAVIS of California, ADAMS, and WILSON of Florida for their work on this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, juvenile courts were established by States over 100 years ago on the emerging legal theory that children should not be held fully responsible for their actions, a theory proven by scientific research into impulse control and brain development. The capacity to rehabilitate children became the focus of the system rather than punishment of offenders. Congress first articulated national standards of juvenile justice in the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974.
September 13, 2016
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5587, the Strengthening CTE for the 21st Century Act, which would reauthorize the Perkins Career and Technical Education program.
The research is clear: the United States workforce is suffering from a skills gap. According to one study, 65 percent of all jobs in the United States in the near future will require at least some education or training past the high school level--not necessarily a 4-year degree, but some education and training past the high school level. In Virginia alone, we have thousands of jobs in the tech sector that go unfilled because of the lack of qualified applicants. Some of those jobs have salaries of $88,000.
Today's CTE program is not the vocational education of the past, where students pursued a career rather than academic studies. Now the current programs integrate the academic curriculum which will assist in preparing participants for postsecondary education and credentials.