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August 19, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Department of Education announced a policy change that will provide 323,000 borrowers who have a total and permanent disability (TPD) with more than $5.8 billion in automatic student loan discharges. The changes announced today will also make it easier for eligible students to access the relief that they are legally entitled to receive under the TPD program. “I applaud the Biden Administration for once again using its authority to provide desperately needed relief to student loan borrowers and their families.
August 19, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement in response to eight states banning schools from implementing mandatory mask policies to protect students, educators, and families from COVID-19. “As we begin another school year under the cloud of a pandemic, policymakers must be laser-focused on helping school districts reopen safely and stay open safely. Through the American Rescue Plan, Congress and President Biden delivered an historic $130 billion investment in K-12 education to help ensure school districts have the resources they need to safely return to in-person instruction.
August 17, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC –Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott sent a letter urging the Department of Education to hold the executives of failed for-profit colleges and converted for-profit colleges personally liable for money the institution owes to the federal government. Committee investigations—including a 2020 report on the defunct Dream Center Education Holdings—have found that, when fraudulent for-profit and converted for-profit schools have abruptly closed, college executives have escaped financial liability at the expense of students and taxpayers.
August 16, 2021
Press Release
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Earlier today, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), the Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, convened a virtual roundtable with presidents and other officials from local institutions of higher education. The roundtable was a chance for college and university officials to discuss how they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, how their institutions utilized federal funding made available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan, and what challenges they still face in light of surging infections driven by the delta variant.
August 16, 2021
Press Release
NEWPORT NEWS, VA – Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement on the situation in Afghanistan: “20 years ago, the United States entered Afghanistan to destroy the forces responsible for the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. We largely finished that work when the Obama-Biden Administration killed Osama Bin Laden and degraded al Qaeda. Our servicemembers have been placed in harm’s way for the last 20 years in America’s longest war. Our nation has spent billions of dollars to train the Afghan military and provide resources to the Afghan government to prevent the Taliban from regaining control. It is now undeniably clear that President Biden is correct when he asserts that the events of the last few days were inevitable.
August 13, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Department of Labor released updated workplace safety guidance for employers not covered under the Emergency Temporary Standard and additional guidance to protect workers from COVID-19. “The updated workplace safety guidance released today by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an improvement over previous guidance, but it still falls well short of the enforceable workplace safety standard that is necessary to protect workers from COVID-19. In April, OSHA determined that an Emergency Temporary Standard was necessary to protect workers from the grave danger posed by the virus
Issues:
August 9, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Department of Education released a new legal interpretation that enhances oversight and accountability for student loan servicers. In 2019, Chairman Scott sent a letter to then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos regarding the Department’s efforts to shield student loan servicing companies from state law enforcement. “The Biden-Harris Administration has taken a critical step to improve oversight of student loan servicers and ensure that all borrowers are protected from unfair and deceptive practices.
August 6, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) joined Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), Rep. Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03), and Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12) in sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) urging them to adopt federal heat standards for workers. The Congressmembers submitted a letter to Labor Secretary Walsh outlining the dangers extreme heat poses to blue-collar workers in various industries.
August 6, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Biden-Harris Administration extended the pause on federal student loan payments and interest until January 31, 2022. In June, Chairman Scott and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) sent a letter urging President Biden to extend the pause, which was set to expire at the end of September. “I applaud President Biden for providing desperately needed relief to federal student loan borrowers as we continue to fight the pandemic.
August 6, 2021
Press Release
WASHINGTON, DC – Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 943,000 jobs in July as the unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent. “Today’s jobs report continues to show that the American Rescue Plan is helping Americans get back to work. Since taking office, the Biden-Harris economic agenda has created more than 4 million jobs. Just last week, a comprehensive analysis found that our focus on supporting families throughout the pandemic has pushed the share of Americans in poverty to the lowest level on record.
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In The News
June 15, 2020
In The News
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) — Congressman Bobby Scott is working on a bill to reform police departments. Scott introduced the “Justice in Policing Act” to House and Senate Democrats last Monday. This comes after the senseless death of George Floyd. While in police custody, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
Issues:
June 11, 2020
In The News
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WAVY) — Congressman Bobby Scott sent a letter on Tuesday 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 deaths of individuals that occur in police custody. This includes those who are arrested, in transit to incarceration, or incarcerated in state or local facilities.
Issues:
June 1, 2020
In The News
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Bobby Scott is calling on the government to implement the Death in Custody Reporting Act which would require states to report any deaths during arrests or in custody to the Attorney General.
Pointing the killing of George Floyd, Scott said we’ve again witnessed the “senseless and avoidable” death of an unarmed black man at the hands of law enforcement. Scott said understanding the scope of the problem requires data but charged that the Department of Justice has “repeatedly failed” to implement the Death in Custody Reporting Act.
Issues:
May 7, 2020
In The News
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WAVY) — Nearly two months after coronavirus concerns shuttered many American businesses, Congress is beginning to talk about how to reopen the country. Virginia Congressman Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va. 3rd District) held a press conference on Thursday with other members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia and Maryland. The lawmakers spoke about the necessary steps the United States must take before reopening businesses, schools and governments.
April 15, 2020
In The News
WASHINGTON — A new plan could mean another life raft for people who lost their jobs because of the coronavirus. Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott, a Democrat from the 3rd District representing the Newport News and Norfolk area, has introduced legislation that would have the federal government pay 100% of COBRA costs during the pandemic.
April 14, 2020
In The News
A new bill from House Democrats, previewed exclusively to Vox, aims to give laid-off or furloughed workers a way to stay on their health insurance plan at no extra cost to them — through increased subsidies with the existing health insurance plan COBRA. COBRA allows laid-off workers to keep buying into their health insurance plans.
April 13, 2020
In The News
NORFOLK, Va. — Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) announced Monday that colleges in the state's third congressional district would get $46 million dollars to alleviate the financial effects of coronavirus on higher education. The money will be dispersed between eight schools, and half of the funds will be set aside to provide emergency cash assistance grants to students.
February 6, 2020
In The News
One of the most significant bills to strengthen workers’ abilities to organize in the past 80 years passed the House on Thursday, the latest sign of momentum for the labor movement. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act, known as the PRO Act, would amend some of the country’s decades-old labor laws to give workers more power during disputes at work, add penalties for companies that retaliate against workers who organize and grant some hundreds of thousands of workers collective-bargaining rights they don’t currently have.
October 15, 2019
In The News
The Democratic-controlled House is expected Tuesday to release a plan to make college more affordable and schools more accountable for students’ success, reviving fraught efforts to reauthorize the main federal law governing higher education. Compared with some of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates’ higher education proposals, including student debt forgiveness, the House bill is pretty tame.
October 11, 2019
In The News
There’s something about FAFSA — that particularly nosy form that students and parents fill out in order to get financial aid for college — that can get in the way of young people actually making it to and through college. And Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-Newport News, says he plans to do something about it.