Press Releases
August 7, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 1.8 million jobs in July with the unemployment rate at 10.2 percent. “Today’s jobs report clearly defines the stakes of the current negotiations over the next COVID-19 relief package. The American economy has lost 12.9 million jobs since February, and this is the 20th consecutive week in which more than 1 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims.
August 7, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Yesterday, in a letter to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) led 24 Democrats in opposing the Department’s retirement investment advice rules. These rules help financial advisors evade their responsibility to clients—leaving hardworking retirement savers at risk and without any meaningful remedies when they have been harmed.
Issues:Economy and Jobs
August 6, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – In a letter to House and Senate leadership, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) joined more than 30 Members, led by Reps. Donald McEachin (VA-04) and Matt Cartwright (PA-08), in calling for the exclusion of the sweeping corporate immunity provisions proposed by the Senate Republicans in the forthcoming COVID-19 relief package. In the letter, Members oppose proposals to establish broad liability shields for businesses that fail to protect workers and consumers from health risks.
August 4, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after a federal judge in New York struck down the Department of Labor’s (DOL) restrictions on workers’ access to paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The decision invalidates provisions of DOL’s rule that allowed employers to avoid providing workers with paid leave if (1) the employer asserts that they did not have work for the employee, (2) the employee fell within DOL’s overly broad definition of “health care provider,” (3) the employee did not provide documentation before taking paid leave, or (4) the employer did not agree to the worker taking intermittent (non-contiguous) leave.
July 31, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), the Chairman of the Committee on the Education and Labor, applauded the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 7617, the Defense, Commerce, Justice, Science, Energy and Water Development, Financial Services and General Government, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Act for 2021.
July 31, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement calling for the extension of the Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program, which provides additional funding for struggling families with children who cannot access free or reduced-price school meals due to school closures. Yesterday, a Brookings Institution study found that P-EBT, which Congress passed under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, prevented at least 2.7 million children from going hungry in the week after states issued benefits, reducing child hunger by 30 percent. Benefits will expire in most states in August.
July 30, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) introduced legislation to make all students eligible for free school meals during the 2020-2021 school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act would allow all children to access breakfast, lunch, and afterschool snack programs either in school or through “grab and go” and delivery options.
July 29, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC — Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-Ore.), House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) today released the following statement on the White House’s call for Congress to pass legislation ending the practice of surprise medical billing.
July 29, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), delivered the following remarks on the House floor on the Child Care is Essential Act, a proposal that would invest $50 billion in helping child care providers reopen and reducing the cost of child care for working families. “Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you to my colleague and friend, Congresswoman DeLauro, for her work in support of children, families, and child care providers.
July 28, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), House Education and Labor Committee, and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released the following statement on the Republican proposal to condition K-12 funds by requiring schools to operate in-person, and directing federal funding to unaccountable private schools. “Democrats want schools to re-open for in-person learning if it can be done safely—but the partisan Republican proposal would put students, educators, and communities at risk by taking a one-size fits all approach and pushing school districts to ignore local public health officials.