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June 16, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed S. 475 the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act: “I was very proud to vote today to finally establish Juneteenth as a national holiday and I was pleased to see broad bipartisan support for the legislation. I look forward to President Biden signing it in to law. This vote comes after the Commonwealth of Virginia formally recognized Juneteenth as a holiday last year and now a total of 49 states and Washington, D.C. now celebrate Juneteenth as a state or ceremonial holiday.
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June 16, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Education Department announced new categories of borrower defense claims totaling $500 million in relief to 18,000 borrowers. “Today’s announcement means that tens of thousands of defrauded student loan borrowers will finally be granted the debt relief that they are legally entitled to receive. It has been more than four years since the Department of Education (ED) first concluded that ITT Tech schools in California defrauded their students.
June 16, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to the Education Department’s Notice of Interpretation that will prohibit schools receiving federal funds from discriminating against students on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. “I applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for taking this important step to strengthen protections against discrimination in schools. This announcement reflects our shared commitment to providing all students a safe and welcoming environment, and it aligns the Education Department’s interpretation of civil rights law with the definition established by the Supreme Court last year.
June 11, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Biden-Harris Administration withdrew a Trump-era proposal that would have terminated automatic eligibility for free school meals for roughly 1 million students. “When the Trump Administration first proposed denying 1 million children automatic eligibility for free school meals, I raised awareness of the severe impact of this rule and called on the Administration to abandon its counterproductive proposal. Two years later, the Biden-Harris Administration’s decision to withdraw this rule is a major victory for students, families, and educators that demonstrates our shared commitment to preventing child hunger.
June 10, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after Department of Labor issued an Emergency Temporary Standard and additional guidance to protect workers from COVID-19. “The Emergency Temporary Standard issued today is a step in the right direction to protect health care workers from COVID-19. The ETS provides many nurses, doctors, and frontline workers in health care settings with enforceable workplace safety standards that address the severe risks of COVID-19. However, I am disappointed by both the timing and the scope of this workplace safety standard.
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June 4, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 559,000 jobs in May with the unemployment rate at 5.8 percent. “Today’s job report shows that the Biden-Harris economic plan is working and, if fully implemented, will produce a strong, shared recovery that benefits all Americans. The American Rescue Plan provided immediate relief to students, workers, families, and businesses and delivered the resources necessary to defeat the pandemic. But today’s report also shows that we still have a long road ahead to make up for the millions of jobs lost over the past 16 months.
June 3, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to the nomination of David Weil as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s nomination of Dr. David Weil signals that workers can expect the Department of Labor will have their backs at this critical moment in time. The intersection of a rapidly changing economy and a pandemic-fueled recession has left America’s underpaid and undervalued workers even more vulnerable to wage theft and other abuses. Perhaps no one is better prepared to address today’s challenges than Dr. Weil.
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May 28, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to the release of President Biden’s FY 2022 budget proposal. “The Biden-Harris FY 2022 budget is a blueprint for expanding opportunity and strengthening our economy. It proposes smart, significant investments in education, child care, health care, workforce training, and other key priorities that would improve the lives of Americans across the country.
May 26, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.), House Committee on Education and Labor, Representative Don Beyer (D-Va.), Representative Donald McEachin (D-Va.), Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), and Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) reintroduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act, legislation to protect students from dangerous seclusion and restraint discipline practices in school. The Keeping All Students Safe Act would make it illegal for any school receiving federal taxpayer money to seclude children and would ban dangerous restraint practices that restrict children’s breathing, such as prone or supine restraint.
May 26, 2021
Press Release
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), the Dean of the Virginia Congressional Delegation, issued the following statement of former Senator John Warner: “It is with a heavy heart that I learned of the passing of John Warner. A veteran of World War II and the Korean War before he served in the Senate, John dedicated his life to serving his country and the Commonwealth of Virginia. John served as the dean of Virginia’s congressional delegation for many years and set the tone for how Democrats and Republicans should work together for the betterment of all Virginians.
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In The News
June 13, 2021
In The News
As Congress gears up to battle over how much to spend on infrastructure, Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-Newport News, wants to be sure his Capitol Hill colleagues remember one part of the foundation that keeps an economy growing: Child care. “If we’re going to get all these jobs, people need the things that make it possible to work, and that’s child care,” he told staff at the Downtown Hampton Child Development Center. The pandemic hit child-care facilities hard, he said. Those that remained open faced big bills to arrange for social distancing and hygiene measures — and had to spend that money as parents, stuck at home, decided to keep their children home too. Many simply closed their doors, and face bills to prepare for reopening.
April 15, 2021
In The News
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott (D-3rd District) has formally asked for the Justice Department to investigate two recent high-profile cases in Hampton Roads involving Black men and police, the fatal police shooting of Donovon Lynch in Virginia Beach and the threatening traffic stop of Army 2nd Lt. Caron Nazario in Windsor. Scott said he has also spoken in person with Attorney General Merrick Garland about launching probes into the incidents, in addition to sending a formal request in writing. “We deserve transparency, accountability, and most of all, the truth about these incidents,” Scott said.
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March 19, 2021
In The News
Kevin Ring worked on Capitol Hill during the crafting of the 1994 Crime Bill, which imposed tougher prison sentences and bolstered the War on Drugs. As he remembers it, members of both parties were obsessed with appearing tough on crime. “You couldn’t go far enough,” said Ring, who’s now the president of sentencing reform organization Families Against Mandatory Minimums. “Three strikes? How about two strikes? How about one strike? We couldn’t be punitive enough to satisfy what we thought was public anger about crime and drugs.” Over 25 years after the 1994 Crime Bill and 35 years after the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, the War on Drugs is considered by experts and government officials alike to be one of the biggest failures of American governance in the 20th century.
March 10, 2021
In The News
The House of Representatives isn’t dealing with just COVID-19 relief. Members also voted Tuesday night on a labor law introduced by a senior member of the Virginia delegation. Virginia is one of 27 states that has what some people call a “right to work” law, which union supporters sometimes call a freeloader law. That’s because it allows people who aren’t members of unions and don’t pay union dues to benefit from higher wages and working conditions negotiated on their behalf by unions. That’s why Congressman Bobby Scott of Newport News introduced the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which creates what he calls a “fair-share fee” allowing unions and employers to assess fees supporting the cost of collective bargaining.
March 10, 2021
In The News
WASHINGTON (AP/WAVY) — The House has approved Democratic legislation sponsored by Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott (3rd District) that would invigorate workers’ unions following decades of court defeats and legislative setbacks. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which passed Tuesday on a 225-206 vote, would block so-called Right to Work laws across the country and generally make it easier to organize a union. It would also prohibit companies from hiring replacements for workers on strike. Scott, the bill’s lead sponsor, is also the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor.
January 28, 2021
In The News
On January 6th, then-President Donald Trump incited a deadly insurrection against Congress while we fulfilled our constitutional duty to count the electoral votes of the states. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the chair of the House Republican Conference, strongly condemned the president, appropriately stating that “[T]here has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” In the days since this domestic terror attack on our democracy, troubling public reports of the timeline now reveal that several members of Congress, and perhaps even the vice president, were within moments of being captured and possibly murdered by the mob.
January 14, 2021
In The News
When the impeachment of Bill Clinton landed on his desk 22 years ago as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, called a political scientist at U.Va. with a question: what were the grounds, really, for impeachment? “He said, ‘You’re asking the wrong question,’” Scott recalled, pausing for a few moments before headed to the House of Representatives’ chamber to vote to impeach Donald J. Trump for the second time. “He said, ‘the question is, why is impeachment in the Constitution?,’ and the reason is it’s there is for when you can’t wait till the next election or the end of a term to remove someone,” Scott said.
January 7, 2021
In The News
WASHINGTON — Two more members of Congress from Hampton Roads are calling for the removal of President Donald Trump after Wednesday's insurrection in the Capitol by his supporters. 3rd District Representative Bobby Scott and 2nd District Representative Elaine Luria both say Trump needs to leave office immediately. "While there are only 13 days until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office, it is clear there are significant risks to our nation if President Trump remains in office," Scott said in a statement Thursday.
January 4, 2021
In The News
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. - Congressman Bobby Scott is calling for a criminal investigation into President Donald Trump after reports that Trump tried to ask election officials in Georgia to “find” votes for a victory. President Trump is heard on tape pleading with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, according to a copy obtained by the Associated Press. Trump tells Raffensperger at one point that he wants him to “find” 11,780 votes for Trump. Scott made the call for an investigation on Twitter and claims that "this behavior is a dangerous threat to democracy and warrants a criminal investigation."
December 16, 2020
In The News
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than two dozen members of the U.S. Congress on Wednesday called on federal prison and health officials for details about how inmates will be vaccinated for COVID-19, questioning whether the most vulnerable prisoners will have priority access. In a letter to Federal Bureau of Prisons director Michael Carvajal and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief Dr. Robert Redfield, 26 lawmakers, led by Democratic Representative Bobby Scott, expressed concerns about the prison system’s existing plan for vaccine distribution.
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