Press Releases 2018

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, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on the passing of Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-25): “It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of Louise Slaughter. Louise spent over three decades in Congress fighting for what she believed in. As the first woman to chair the powerful Rules Committee, she was a fearless leader and a relentless advocate for women, diversity and inclusion. I was lucky enough to call Louise my friend, and she never failed to make everyone laugh. Her spirit was infectious, and we will all miss her terribly. This is a great loss for New York, the entire House of Representatives, and our country. I extend my sincerest condolences to her children, grandchildren, friends, staff and all those positively impacted by her remarkable life and work.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the passage of H.R. 4909, the “STOP School Violence Act of 2018” [407-10]. Democrats will continue the conversation on school safety next week at our forum entitled, ‘Preventing School Shootings: A Comprehensive Approach.’ “Today’s vote is a positive first step, but more must be done. I am pleased that H.R. 4909 rejects President Trump and Secretary DeVos’ misguided proposal to arm teachers by prohibiting program funds from being used to buy guns or firearms training for school staff. While I applaud the bill’s provisions to support implementation of evidence-based staff training and school-based threat assessments, I remain concerned with any federal efforts to increase law enforcement presence in schools.

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.

WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 313,000 jobs in February, with the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.1 percent. “Today’s job report shows the economy has built on the progress of the previous administration by adding almost as many jobs in 13 months as the number of jobs added in the last 13 months of the Obama administration. However, even though the economy is generating new jobs, workers are still struggling to find economic security. Compounding this instability is the Trump administration’s proposed rule that would allow employers to confiscate workers’ hard-earned tips. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that tipped workers could lose $5.8 billion dollars a year.

WASHINGTON, DC – Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Department of Education (ED) published a ‘notice of interpretation’ of state’s rights to protect federal student loan borrowers. “In recent years, there have been numerous credible claims of servicing failures stemming from potentially unethical practices and purposeful misinformation provided to student loan borrowers. States under both Democratic and Republican leadership have rightly increased their investigation of such claims; implemented additional consumer protections for borrowers in their states; and where appropriate, taken legal action. States are well within their rights to enact and enforce consumer protection laws.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressman Scott Taylor, joined by Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03), Walter Jones (NC-03), and G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), sent a bipartisan letter to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), urging them to establish the Virginia Beach-Norfolk (VA-NC CSA) locality pay area by January 2019. Since 2015, the Federal Salary Council has recommended to the President's Pay Agent that Virginia Beach-Norfolk be established as a separate locality pay area. However, despite receiving approval from the Pay Agent, OPM has yet to act on the recommendation, leaving this issue unresolved for the approximate 30,500 federal employees who live and work in this locality area.