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October 23, 2015
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, today, the House will take yet another vote on the Affordable Care Act. More specifically today, we will vote on whether or not we want to support a budget reconciliation process that will seek to take away health insurance from millions of Americans--but this isn't a new exercise.
In the past 5 years, the House has voted about 60 times to repeal or to undermine the law. There have been multiple lawsuits filed, and countless attacks have been mounted--all with the same goal of turning the clock backwards on the progress we have made.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on President Obama’s veto of the conference report to H.R. 1735, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016:
“While I support a strong national defense and our men and women in uniform, I believe the President was right in vetoing this year’s National Defense Authorization Act and I will vote to sustain his veto.
“The bill in its current form shields the Department of Defense from sequestration by moving billions of Defense Department funding into the Overseas Contingency Operations Account, which is exempted from sequestration. Democrats and Republicans all agree that sequestration is bad policy and must be addressed, but using accounting gimmicks to protect only the Defense side of the budget ledger, while still allowing sequestration to arbitrarily cut education, transportation, health care and every other vital function of government is irresponsible and irrational.
October 21, 2015
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for giving me the opportunity to speak in honor of the recently departed Congressman William Donlon ``Don'' Edwards, a civil rights champion, supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, defender of the Constitution.
I am proud to say that, as a freshman in Congress, I had the honor to serve with Congressman Edwards on the Committee on the Judiciary. I would just like to say a few words about his work on that committee.
Issues:Civil RightsJudiciary
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that he will be stepping down from his post in December.
“Just this morning, I joined Secretary Duncan at an area elementary school to announce a $237 million federal investment in high quality, early learning for three and four-year-olds in 18 states. This work is at the heart of why Arne has made an outstanding public servant and Education Secretary – his focus on evidence-based solutions to our country’s most pressing education challenges. As secretary, Arne has prioritized K-12 education, pushed for a renewed ESEA that is worthy of the President’s signature, found new ways to make college more affordable and campuses safer, advocated for more fair and balanced school discipline policies, and has focused on ways to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. I’ve been happy to count him as a partner in this work, as I introduced the Youth P.R.O.M.I.S.E. Act and the Youth Justice Act earlier this year.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on passage of H.R. 719, the Continuing Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2016, which will fund the federal government through December 11, 2015:
“While today’s vote avoids another government shutdown, we will be at the brink of another shutdown in December if House Republicans continue to push a partisan agenda. The last time Republicans shutdown the government, it cost the U.S. economy $24 billion and had significant negative impacts on the Commonwealth. Tens of thousands of federal employees throughout Virginia and in my district were furloughed. Our nation’s credit rating was put at risk, and critical investments in education, transportation, defense and medical research were unnecessarily delayed.
September 28, 2015
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Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in honor of the lives of three civil rights luminaries. I thank the gentlewoman from Houston for giving us this opportunity to honor their lives: Congressman Louis Stokes, statesman and educator Julian Bond, both of whom I knew personally, and activist Amelia Robinson.
These champions of social and economic justice lived their lives just as Pope Francis challenged Members of Congress to do.
Issues:Civil Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after Speaker John Boehner announced that he is resigning from Congress at the end of October:
“I commend Speaker Boehner for his leadership and service to our country. During his chairmanship of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Speaker Boehner proved that by coming together in a bipartisan way, we can find solutions to the nation’s most pressing issues. I’m hopeful that the Speaker’s announcement today and the resulting dynamics within the Majority do not impede the Committee’s ability to continue his legacy.”
Bipartisanship is elusive in Washington, especially with an upcoming presidential election. But the widespread consensus behind efforts to fix our nation's broken and costly criminal justice system proves that common ground does exist.
Republicans and Democrats can agree that the driving force behind fixing our criminal justice system should be an approach that delivers the most public safety at the lowest taxpayer cost.
Along with many of our colleagues, we have been working to pass the Safe, Accountable, Fair, and Effective Justice Act. The SAFE Justice Act would implement targeted reforms to the federal sentencing and corrections system, drawing on research and empirical evidence about what truly works to change criminal behavior, protect public safety and control costs.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, along with U.S. Representatives Bobby Scott, Randy Forbes, Rob Wittman, Gerry Connolly, Robert Hurt, Dave Brat, and Don Beyer released the following statement on the release of a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that makes clear Fort Pickett, Virginia is the best location for a Foreign Affairs Security Training Center (FASTC).
“After years of study, the Department of State and the General Services Administration determined in 2011 that Fort Pickett was the best site for security training for American embassy personnel and began to plan the facility
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA) and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy (WAGE) Act, legislation to strengthen protections for workers who want to raise wages and improve workplace conditions. The WAGE Act would amend the National Labor Relations Act to help ensure workers are able to have a voice in the workplace and would crack down on employers who break the law when workers exercise their basic right to collective action. In a press conference announcing the legislation, Scott and Murray were joined by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and Ross Eisenbrey, Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute.