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RICHMOND – Hampton Roads' congressional leaders no more agree on how to respond to the surge of Central American children massing at the United States' southern border than they do on broader immigration reforms.
U.S. Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News, said he wants to see the details of the president's plan before offering his support, including where the $3.7 billion would come from. But like Kaine and Warner, Scott focused on the situations these children, as well as adults, are running from.
He said there's "more push than pull" driving the exodus and called on Republican leaders in the House to bring the Senate's immigration reform package, which passed last year with bipartisan support, to the floor. If Republicans ignore pressure from the party's conservative Tea Party wing and work with Democrats, there are enough votes to pass the bill, Scott said.
Issues:Immigration
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott issued the following statement on the passing of former Newport News School Board Chairwoman Effie Ashe:
"It was with great sadness that I learned of the passing of former Newport News School Board Chairwoman Effie Ashe. Effie spent most of her life in service to her community. For 33 years, she served our nation at Fort Eustis working in several civil service positions, and was often one of the few African Americans on base who worked in an office. She was never drawn to the limelight of public office, but her community and the schools and students of Newport News desperately needed her tenacity and straightforwardness.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) and Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) sent a letter to the Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission Patti Saris. This letter comes at the close of the Commission’s comment period on a “drugs minus two” amendment, a proposal that fixes a flaw in the sentencing guidelines that has resulted in excessive sentences for approximately 51,000 currently incarcerated federal drug offenders who have been sentenced since 1987. The Commission has acknowledged that since 1987 the drug guidelines have been higher than necessary for years, due to a miscalculation at the “low end” of the drug sentencing guidelines wherein a low level offense carriers a prison term higher than the mandatory minimum sentence.
Issues:Civil RightsCrimeJudiciary
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Several members of Congress representing Virginia and Hampton Roads hosted a regional conference on Monday about the local threat from sea level rise, particularly in Norfolk.
The conference was held at the Ted Constant Center at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rep. Rob Wittman (VA-01), Rep. Scott Rigell (VA-02) and Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03) organized the event, alongside mayors Paul Fraim of Norfolk, Will Sessoms of Virginia Beach, and Kenny Wright of Portsmouth.
Issues:Energy & Environment
In the United States today, we have a problem with our prisons. We incarcerate our people at nearly six times the rate of most other industrialized nations, and yet we have higher rates of crime.
While our crime rate has dropped substantially over the past 20 years, crime and our high level of incarceration continue to have massive social and economic costs to our nation. According to the Pew Center on the States, state and federal spending on corrections has grown 400 percent over the past 20 years, from about $12 billion to about $60 billion. Corrections spending is currently among the fastest growing line items in state budgets, and 1 in 8 full-time state government employees works in corrections. Clearly we have a long way to go still, but there are methods we can use to make our communities safer while reducing incarceration, with its massive associated costs.
Issues:Youth PROMISE Act
NORFOLK, VA – Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, U.S. Congressmen Scott Rigell, Bobby Scott, and Rob Wittman, as well as Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim and Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms hosted a regional conference on sea level rise at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. The forum focused on meeting the challenges Hampton Roads faces due to sea level rise and land subsidence and how to promote action at the federal, state and local level to address the region’s needs. The two panels of policy experts and regional stakeholders focused on the urgency of combating sea level rise, which is already having visible impacts on the Hampton Roads region, and can no longer be looked at solely as a long-term challenge.
Issues:Energy & Environment
By Bill Bartel, The Virginian-Pilot
Hampton Roads' congressional delegation, who all favor the VA overhaul, commented Thursday about the bill's status and the financing debate:
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, Newport News Democrat: Scott said the financing problem goes back to Congress's decision last year to keep intact the so-called Bush tax cuts, preventing the government from collecting $3.9 trillion in revenue over ten years. "My feeling is the veterans' health care would take priority over a $3.9 trillion tax cut," Scott said. "We have been going along for decades with many members finding no relationship with services provided and the budget."
Issues:Veterans
WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Monday, June 30, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, U.S. Congressmen Scott Rigell, Bobby Scott, and Rob Wittman, as well as Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim and Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms, will host a regional conference on sea level rise at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. The bipartisan forum will focus on meeting the challenges Hampton Roads faces due to sea level rise and land subsidence and how to promote action at the federal, state and local level to address the region’s needs. The conference will feature two panels of federal policy experts and regional stakeholders that will respectively discuss federal policy needs and the process of coordinating work on these issues across government, academia and the private sector.
Issues:Energy & Environment
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott said he's pleased Obama has flatly ruled out sending ground troops back into Iraq.
"I think there's just an overwhelming opposition to getting re-involved in a ground war in Iraq," Scott said, adding that the president should keep the option open to intervene in some other way if necessary.
Yes, it's another forum on sea level rise. But, this time, the organizer is a U.S. senator.
That could be a good sign for regional efforts to attract federal attention - and money - for solving what might be Hampton Roads' trickiest problem.
A combination of rising water and sinking land make the region one of the most vulnerable areas in the country to sea level rise.