Press Releases
190 Members of Congress Slam HHS Effort to Dismantle Head Start
10.07.26 WASHINGTON -One hundred ninety Members of Congress demanded that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) withdraw its proposal to remove more than 90 percent of Head Start’s standards that ensure children receive a high-quality early education. Under the proposed rule, nearly one in ten children currently enrolled in Head Start could become ineligible overnight. In the House, the letter is led by Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), House… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Statement on September Jobs Report
10.02.26 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy gained 29,000 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate increased from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent. “This Trump economy might be working for the wealthy and the well connected, but it clearly is leaving workers behind. CEO pay is skyrocketing, while for working people, it's a daily struggle jus… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Statement on the Trump Administration’s National School Voucher Scheme
10.01.26 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, released the following statement after the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s new proposed rule, entitled “Federal Scholarship Tax Credit.” “America's public school system is founded on the promise that all students should have access to a high-quality public education. Today, the Treasury Department issued a proposed rule to implement the massive federal voucher scheme that was included in t… Continue Reading
Scott Champions Bills to Protect and Strengthen Workers’ Retirement Security
10.01.26 WASHINGTON— Today, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and Workforce Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03) touted three bills to secure workers’ retirement savings. The first, the Workers’ Retirement Savings Protection Act of 2026, would ensure workers are not ripped off when investing their retirement savings. The second, the Protecting Workers’ Benefits Act of 2026 would better enable workers, retirees, and their families to enforce their rights under the Employee Retirement Income… Continue Reading
House, Senate Introduce Bill to Lower Cost of Community College
10.01.26 WASHINGTON - Today, House Education and Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), Representative Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ-07), Representative Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM-03), Representative Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) introduced the America’s College Promise Act of 2026. The bill would make community college and two-year Tribal Colleges and Universities more accessible by waiving tuition fees for eligible students. “Community colleges p… Continue Reading
Scott, Grijalva, Lee Introduce Bill to Invest in Direct Care Workers
09.30.26 WASHINGTON - Today, House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Rep. Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07), and Rep. Susie Lee (NV-03) announced plans to reintroduce H.R. 10704, the Direct Creation, Advancement, and Retention of Employment (CARE) Opportunity Act of 2026. The legislation invests in training and increasing opportunities for our nation’s direct care workers. Between 2025 and 2035, the direct care workforce is projected to add more than 886,000 new… Continue Reading
Government Watchdog Finds Trump Administration Stopped Collecting Important Data on Child Labor, Enforcement Less Effective
09.29.26 WASHINGTON - Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report that found the Trump Administration has disbanded an interagency task force created to address child labor. The report also addresses the impact of decades of underfunding of federal research agencies and how it has made it more difficult to prevent child labor. The report was requested by House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) to examine the federal government… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Statement on HBCU, TCU, and MSI Funding
09.25.26 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, released the following statement following the Department of Education’s funding of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCU) at the expense of Minority Serving Institutions (MSI), such as Predominantly Black Institutions (PBI), Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions … Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Urges Education Department to Withdraw Proposed Grant Rule
09.24.26 WASHINGTON -House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA-03) urged Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to withdraw in its entirety the Department of Education's proposal to revise the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR). EDGAR governs the Department's management of education grant programs. The proposed rule would give the Department broader power to steer grant awards, pull back continued funding for multiyear projects, and… Continue Reading
Trump Vanity Projects Slated to Cost $1.8+ Billion, New Tool Shows Alternative Uses to Deliver for the American People
09.23.26 WASHINGTON - The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee - Minority issued a report today with new calculations that find that President Trump’s vanity projects - including construction of the new White House ballroom and the no-bid contract to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, among others - are expected to cost more than $1.8 billion. Using this total, the Committee created an Interactive Cost Calculator where users can explore how this $1.8 billion could instead be spent to lower cos… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Slams Trump Rule to Make it Harder for Patients to Access Information
09.22.26 WASHINGTON - House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) urged Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Assistant Secretary Daniel Aronowitz to withdraw a new proposed rule that would prioritize the interests of employers and health insurance companies over the needs of millions of working families. The proposed rule, entitled “Electronic Disclosure by Group Health Plans Under ERISA,” would establish a “safe harbor” that will allow health pl… Continue Reading
House, Senate Leaders Demand Criminal Investigation into Labor Department’s Public Comment Scandal
09.18.26 WASHINGTON - Today, House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (D-VA-03), House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), and Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-VT) demanded the Department of Justice (DOJ) Attorney General Todd Blanche and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel open a criminal investigation into the reported use of unverifiable or stolen identities to … Continue Reading
Education Leaders Applaud Passage of the Science of Reading Act
09.16.26 WASHINGTON—Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7890, the Science of Reading Act of 2026, a bipartisan bill focused on strengthening literacy instruction. This bill clarifies that federally supported literacy instruction should align with evidence-based literacy instruction based on the science of reading, including core components such as phonics, fluency, and vocabulary. The Science of Reading Act of 2026 was first introduced by Reps. John W. Mannion (D-NY-22), Erin Houchin (R-IN-0… Continue Reading
HEWD Ranking Member Adams Slams Republicans for Ignoring Rising College Costs
09.16.26 WASHINGTON - Higher Education and Workforce Development (HEWD) Ranking Member Alma Adams (NC-12) delivered the following opening statement at today’s HEWD Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Who Gets the Scholarship? How the Global Shift in College Sports Affects Americans.” “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. “This is the final hearing in this Subcommittee before the House once again returns to our Districts for a long recess. Since the beginning of this… Continue Reading
HELP Ranking Member DeSaulnier Opening Remarks on Union Power
09.15.26 WASHINGTON - Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee Ranking Member Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10) delivered the following opening statement at today’s HELP Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Out of Touch: When Union Politics Leave Workers Behind.” “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here today. “Let me start with a simple truth: President Trump’s economy is not working for workers. Inflation has outpaced wage growth in recent months, and American worke… Continue Reading
Scott, Omar, Casar Introduce Legislation to Protect Workers’ Hard-Earned Wages from Medical Debt Collection
09.14.26 WASHINGTON— Today, House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Ranking Member Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-05), and Vice Ranking Member Rep. Greg Casar (TX-35), introduced H.R. 10373, the Protecting Workers’ Wages from Medical Debt Act. This bill would prohibit workers’ wages from being garnished to pay for medical debt. Right now, approximately 100 million Americans are trapped with $220 billion in medical debt. Loomin… Continue Reading
NEWS: Government Watchdog Finds Defense Department is Robbing Workers of Fair Wages and Benefits
09.09.26 WASHINGTON - Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a new report on the Department of Defense’s (DOD) use of Intergovernmental Support Agreements (IGSAs) to obtain services from state and local governments and the impact on the workers employed under these contracts. Requested by House Committee on Education and Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03) and Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-06), the report revealed that the intergovernmental support agreements adopted by D… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Statement on August Jobs Report
09.04.26 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, released the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy gained 162,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 4.1 percent. At this point in his term, the economy under President Biden had created 10.5 million jobs, compared to just 807,000 under President Trump's second term. Today’s job gains are still roughly half of Presiden… Continue Reading
Scott, Mannion, Fitzpatrick Lead Bipartisan Legislation to Protect Key Offices and Programs at the Department of Education from Being Transferred to Other Federal Agencies
09.03.26 WASHINGTON - Today, Ranking Member Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Rep. John W. Mannion (NY-22), and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01) introduced bipartisan legislation to protect key offices and programs at the U.S. Department of Education from being transferred through interagency agreements to other federal agencies that lack the staff, experience, and expertise needed to administer them. The legislation is the House companion to S.5046, a bipartisan bill led by Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Sus… Continue Reading
Workforce Protections Ranking Member Omar Remarks at Hearing on President Trump’s Deregulatory Agenda at the Department of Labor
09.02.26 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Ilhan Omar (MN-05) delivered the following opening statement at today’s Workforce Protections Subcommittee hearing entitled, “Less Red Tape, More Opportunity: Unleashing American Workers and Job Creators.” “Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for joining us today. “My Republican colleagues love to talk about getting rid of red tape, but let’s look at what they actually want to get rid of: it is the light at a construction site; it is the respirat… Continue Reading