Press Releases
June 22, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA), joined by Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR), Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY), and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raúl Grijalva, released the text of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act. The infrastructure package includes the Reopen and Rebuild America’s Schools Act, which invests $130 billion targeted at high-poverty schools with facilities that endanger the health and safety of students and educators.
June 18, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In advance of Juneteenth, Reps. Marc Veasey (TX-33), Terri Sewell (AL-07) and Bobby Scott (VA-03), co-chairs of the Congressional Voting Rights Caucus (CVRC), led a resolution calling for the implementation of safeguards to protect the integrity of elections and end voter suppression—crucial protections that would prevent widespread voting system malfunctions and voter discrimination in advance of the upcoming primaries and general election.
June 15, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled that LGBTQ individuals cannot be denied employment due to sexual orientation or gender identity. “The Supreme Court’s decision affirms that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibits the unlawful workplace discrimination on the basis of sex. With today’s landmark decision, the Court relied on precedent to make clear that gender-based discrimination against workers includes sexual orientation and gender identity
June 15, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Bicameral Democratic Health Committee leaders wrote to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma today to reassert their request for a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) to help the millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans sign up for health insurance coverage amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 11, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after a federal court ruled that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had “reasonably determined” that workers do not need an enforceable emergency workplace safety standard, or “Emergency Temporary Standard,” to protect them against infection during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 9, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr demanding the Justice Department to enforce the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2013 (DCRA). The DCRA requires states receiving federal criminal justice grants to report the death of any individual detained, arrested, in transit to incarceration, or incarcerated in state or local facilities. Congressman Scott sponsored the Death in Custody Reporting Act in 2000 and it became law with bipartisan support. In 2014 the law was reauthorized by Congress.
June 8, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Congressional Black Caucus, along with House and Senate Democrats, introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020: “Americans from all walks of life have taken to the streets to protest police brutality after the senseless murder of George Floyd. The bill introduced today is a good first step in outlawing choke holds and no-knock warrants, as well as establishing federal standards for law enforcement and making it easier to hold police officers accountable for misconduct.
June 5, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 2.5 million jobs in May with the unemployment rate at 13.3 percent. “Today’s jobs report is evidence of Congress’ strong initial response to this crisis, but it does not diminish the devastating and unprecedented scale of the economic hardship facing workers and families across the country. On average since this crisis began, weekly unemployment claims have been nearly six times higher than the pre-pandemic record set during the Great Recession.
May 29, 2020
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on the arrest of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd: “Today former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was charged with the murder of George Floyd after days of protests and demonstrations in Minnesota and across our nation. I share in the pain and grief for Mr. Floyd’s family and that of the millions of Americans who witnessed another video of a senseless and avoidable death of an unarmed black man at the hands of law enforcement. For several minutes, as a police officer kneeled on his neck, Mr. Floyd cried out that he could not breathe – a cry that has become all too familiar.
Issues:Civil Rights
May 29, 2020
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after President Trump vetoed legislation, passed in March, to reverse the Department of Education’s Borrower Defense rule. The Department’s rule would deny debt relief to students defrauded by predatory colleges. “Earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans came together to block Secretary DeVos’ Borrower Defense rule that shields predatory schools from accountability and denies relief to student borrowers who were defrauded billions of dollars.