Press Releases 2022

WASHINGTON, DC - Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) delivered the following remarks during today’s floor debate on passing the Keep Kids Fed Act (S.2089). “Roughly two years ago, our communities experienced an unprecedented surge in child hunger, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Just weeks into the pandemic, more than one in every three households with children, and nearly half of all mothers with young children, struggled with food insecurity.

WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Department of Education released new proposed Title IX regulations. “The Education Department’s new proposed Title IX regulations mark a monumental step in our fight to address sexual harassment, assault, and discrimination in K-12 and higher education—all while preserving the rights of the accused.  By expanding the critical protections under this law, the new regulations would help ensure that all students, including LGBTQI+ students, are fully protected from discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

WASHINGTON, DC – Cogressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued this statement following President Biden’s call for a three-month suspension of the federal gas tax: "President Biden and Congressional Democrats have made cutting costs for families our number one priority as we continue to tackle the global inflation problem. I need to see further details of President Biden's proposed federal gas tax holiday, as most studies have shown that gas tax holidays primarily serve to increase profits for the gas and oil industry as these savings are rarely passed on to the consumers. I believe we could more effectively cut costs for families by building on the strong bills to lower prices at the pump already passed by House Democrats including the Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act and the Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act.

WASHINGTON  – Representatives Bobby Scott (VA-03), Steve Chabot (OH-01), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX- 18), and Tom Emmer (MN-06) introduced the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Reauthorization Act. The legislation would reauthorize for five years the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP), a critically important grant program which allows states and localities to develop programming that connects those with mental illness and substance abuse issues with evidence-based and comprehensive treatment within the criminal justice system. Among the reforms in the bill are the centering of suicide prevention as a key goal of the program, increasing access to case management services, bolstering the roles of co-responder and crisis intervention teams, training law enforcement, and continuing strong support of mental health courts.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (NC-05), along with Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Ranking Member John Boozman (R-AR), announced an agreement to help school and summer providers keep kids fed. The Keep Kids Fed Act will provide important funding and flexibility for communities to provide children healthy meals this summer and provide support to schools and daycares to respond to supply chain challenges and high food costs for the coming school year.

WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Carson v. Makin. Maine offers a tuition assistance program to parents in areas of the state where public secondary schools are not available contingent upon private schools meeting certain criteria, including that the education be ‘nonsectarian.’ However, in today’s decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Maine must also allow religious schools access the publically funded tuition assistance program. Public dollars should be used to fund public schools.

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06) sent a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to address online marketplaces—including Facebook, eBay, and Amazon—that fail to protect consumers from the fraudulent and deceptive sale of infant formula. Recent news reports have shown that unscrupulous third-party vendors on online marketplaces are selling infant formula at significantly higher prices, advertising fake products, and employing other deceptive tactics to scam consumers during the infant formula shortage.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), a Vice Chair of the House Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and Chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 7910, the Protecting Our Kids Act by a vote of 223-204: “Like everyone across the country, I am devasted by the gun violence in Buffalo and Uvalde, and the routine gun violence that plagues our communities every single day. For years, we have failed to take meaningful action to stop this violence.