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July 28, 2014
Floor Statements
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the passage of S. 1799, the Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2013. This bill passed the Senate last month and provides important services and funding to protect and heal the most vulnerable of all crime victims: our children. During their participation in the Federal criminal justice system, it will provide and improve the resources available to assist children who are victims of crime. Child victims will be supported through this often lengthy and difficult process by designated victims' coordinators, specialists, and advocates.
Issues:Civil Rights

July 28, 2014
Floor Statements
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.J. Res. 105, which proclaims Bernardo de Galvez to be an honorary citizen of the United States posthumously and recognizes his contribution in aiding the American colonists in the fight for independence against the British. Although he was born in Spain, General Galvez led masterful military campaigns against the British and played a crucial role in securing land and seaports on behalf of the American colonists. He additionally helped negotiate the terms of the treaty that ended the American Revolution and secured America's independence from British rule.

July 24, 2014
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations on the House Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's Anti-Poverty Plan released today: "I strongly commend Chairman Ryan for endorsing sentencing reform in his Anti-Poverty Plan. Studies of mandatory minimum sentencing have concluded time-and-time again that they fail to reduce crime, they waste the taxpayers’ money, they often require the imposition of sentences that violate common sense, and they unnecessarily destroy families and communities. I am pleased that Chairman Ryan has specifically endorsed the Smarter Sentencing Act, which I have introduced with Republican Congressman Raul Labrador of Idaho. Our bill reduces the harm of mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses by granting discretion to federal judges to sentence below the mandatory minimum.

July 23, 2014
LIBERALS AND conservatives have learned from the drug war’s failures. More jail time may result in less crime, but the costs can be too high. Harsh punishments often catch street-corner dealers, not drug kingpins. The drug war’s foremost legacy is a skyrocketing prison population; the number of drug offenders in federal prisons has increased 21 times since 1980. Spurred by this alarming reality, the U.S. Sentencing Commission unanimously voted last week to give nearly 50,000 inmates the chance to reduce their drug sentences. This came after an April decision to lower sentencing guidelines, the advisory rules given to judges, by an average of one to two years for drug-related crimes.

July 23, 2014
Floor Statements
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5076, the Enhancing Services for Runaway and Homeless Victims of Youth Trafficking Act of 2014. I am honored to have joined my colleagues, Mr. Heck and Mr. Kline, and appreciate their leadership on this important issue. Our bill makes an important change in the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act so that victims of trafficking can be better served. We know that trafficking and youth homelessness often affect similar populations. Young people that have run away or are homeless are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking, and programs targeted towards runaway and homeless youth should be simultaneously equipped to support victims of trafficking when there is such an overlap.
Issues:Civil Rights

July 23, 2014
Floor Statements
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, Friday, July 25th, marks the 40th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation, which was established by Congress in 1974, with bipartisan support, including that of President Richard Nixon. LSC is a private, nonprofit corporation, funded by Congress. Its mission is to ensure equal access to justice under the law for all Americans by providing civil legal assistance to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. LSC funds 134 local legal aid programs, with nearly 800 offices serving every state and U.S. territory. I have long been a supporter of legal assistance for low income Americans and of the LSC dating back to the 1970s, when I led the effort to establish the LSC funded Virginia Peninsula Legal Aid Center, Inc. So I know from first-hand experience that LSC-funded legal aid programs make a critical difference to low income Americans by assisting with their most basic civil legal needs.
Issues:Civil Rights

July 23, 2014
Floor Statements
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5135, the Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act of 2014. This bill is vital to identifying best practices and effective strategies to deter individuals from committing trafficking offenses and to prevent children from becoming victims, and it, therefore, enjoys bipartisan support in the House. This bill will encourage Federal, State, and local governments to work together as an Interagency Task Force to investigate and enforce the existing laws. This task force will emphasize prosecution of the purchasers of sex with children as child rapists. These purchasers are usually referred to as ``johns'' who pay for sex with children, but insofar as children cannot consent to sex, the johns are legally committing rape and should be prosecuted as rapists.
Issues:Civil RightsForeign Affairs

July 23, 2014
Floor Statements
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4983, the Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act. It is critical that prospective students have access to information on institutions that they may be interested in attending, and the bill before us would provide the platform for these students to gather this information. This information is essential to ensuring that students will be able to make an informed decision on which institution to attend.
Issues:Education

July 19, 2014
Coastal Virginians don’t need us to educate them about sea-level rise and recurrent flooding. They see with their own eyes how often severe flooding occurs in their region and they know that the number and intensity of these floods has increased when comparing past decades to today. That’s why they are coming together in a bipartisan, locally driven effort to work on this issue as a unified Hampton Roads community. And that’s why we, as bipartisan members of Virginia’s congressional delegation, are part of that effort. Like the constituents we represent, we have different views on many national issues. But we are Virginians first, and our constituents have the right to expect us to find common ground on issues of importance to Virginia.

July 18, 2014
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the United States Sentencing Commission voted unanimously to apply a reduction in the sentencing guideline levels applicable to most federal drug inmates retroactively. Unless Congress disapproves the amendment, beginning November 1, 2014, eligible inmates can ask courts to reduce their sentences. Courts will review a number of individualized factors, including public safety, in consideration of whether to grant these reductions.