Press Releases
Following Deadly Beirut Explosion, Labor Leaders Call on OSHA to Update Ammonium Nitrate Standard
08.17.20 WASHINGTON – Three members of the House Committee on Education and Labor wrote to Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia today calling on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to update its standards to protect American workers and communities from catastrophic explosions like the recent tragic events in Beirut and in West, Texas in 2013. The Beirut ammonium nitrate explosion has killed over 200 people and the West Fertilizer explosion killed 15, including 12 emergency respond… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Stabenow Urge USDA to Take Action to Provide School Meals to Children in Need
08.14.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03), Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, and U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use its full authority to provide healthy meals to students for the duration of the school year. In the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Congress granted authority to the USDA to provide w… Continue Reading
Scott, Bonamici Ask GAO to Examine Access to Support for People with Disabilities Experiencing Domestic Violence
08.12.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Human Services Chair Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) requesting the agency examine the accessibility of federal resources for people with disabilities experiencing domestic violence. In the letter, the Members note that one in three adults, including those with disabilities, have experienced domestic violence, and in… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott: Independent Watchdog Report Reveals Administration Is Improperly Denying Workers Paid Leave During Pandemic
08.11.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to a report from the Department of Labor's Inspector General that found the Department's implementation of the paid leave provisions in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act needlessly excluded too many workers. The report also finds the Department has not developed a clear plan to enforce paid leave protections. "The Department of Labor Inspector General's report confirms that the Trump adm… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Asks Department of Education Watchdog to Investigate Department Role in Dream Center Misconduct
08.10.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) sent a letter to the Department of Education Office of Inspector General (OIG) requesting an investigation into the Department's role in the misconduct of Dream Center Education Holdings, a for-profit higher education company that actively defrauded students and taxpayers. The request follows a report released by the Committee on Education and Labor, which indicates that Under Secretary Diane Auer Jones -… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on Student Loan Executive Order
08.08.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to the President Trump's executive order that freezes federal student loan payments and interest until December 31, 2020. "President Trump's executive order does nothing to address the crisis facing our education system. It does nothing to help state and local governments avoid deep cuts to public education, which could be as high as $300 billion over the next two years. It does nothing to help s… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on July Jobs Report
08.07.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 1.8 million jobs in July with the unemployment rate at 10.2 percent. "Today's jobs report clearly defines the stakes of the current negotiations over the next COVID-19 relief package. The American economy has lost 12.9 million jobs since February, and this is the 20th consecutive week in which more than 1 million Americans filed initial unemployment cla… Continue Reading
Democrats Demand Trump Administration Rescind Proposals Leaving Workers’ Retirement Savings at Risk
08.07.20 WASHINGTON - Yesterday, in a letter to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) led 24 Democrats in opposing the Department's retirement investment advice rules. T… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Joins Democrats in Urging House, Senate Leadership to Exclude Corporate Immunity in COVID-19 Relief Package
08.06.20 WASHINGTON - In a letter to House and Senate leadership, Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) joined more than 30 Members, led by Reps. Donald McEachin (VA-04) and Matt Cartwright (PA-08), in calling for the exclusion of the sweeping corporate immunity provisions proposed by the Senate Republicans in the forthcoming COVID-19 relief package. In the letter, Members oppose proposals to establish broad liability shields for businesses that fail to protect workers an… Continue Reading
Democrats Demand Answers Regarding Secret NLRB Plan to Undermine Enforcement of Workers’ Rights
08.06.20 WASHINGTON - In letters to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman John Ring and General Counsel Peter Robb, Democratic leaders demanded answers regarding an undisclosed plan to restructure the NLRB in a way that will "undermine the NLRB's ability to fairly and effectively protect workers' rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)." The letters were sent by Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), House Committee on Education and Labor, Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), Se… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Remarks at Joint COVID-19 Oversight Press Conference
08.06.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, delivered the following remarks during a press conference to discuss a joint Committee analysis on the Trump Administration's disastrous response to the coronavirus crisis and the urgent need for a national comprehensive plan. Chairman Scott was joined by Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Comm… Continue Reading
Committee Democrats to DeVos: Stop Unlawfully Withholding Emergency Aid from Students
08.04.20 WASHINGTON - In a letter to Secretary DeVos, 19 Committee Democrats expressed strong opposition to the Education Department's repeated efforts to implement unauthorized restrictions on students' access to higher education emergency aid provided under the CARES Act. The CARES Act provided more than $14 billion in emergency aid to institutions of higher education and required half of that funding to be used for emergency grants to students. Despite the law including no restrictions on student e… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on Federal Court Voiding Trump Administration Restrictions on Access to Emergency Paid Leave
08.04.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after a federal judge in New York struck down the Department of Labor's (DOL) restrictions on workers' access to paid leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The decision invalidates provisions of DOL's rule that allowed employers to avoid providing workers with paid leave if (1) the employer asserts that they did not have work for the employee, (2) the employee fell within DOL's overly broad… Continue Reading
House, Senate Education Leaders to DeVos: Stop Robbing Public School Students of COVID-19 Relief Funding
07.31.20 WASHINGTON - Today, in a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, House and Senate education leaders called on the Education Department to rescind its "equitable service" interim final rule, which would redirect COVID-19 relief funding away from students in public schools to fund services for students in private schools, regardless of their wealth or residence. In the letter, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Ran… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Calls for Extension of Pandemic Food Assistance Program
07.31.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) released the following statement calling for the extension of the Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program, which provides additional funding for struggling families with children who cannot access free or reduced-price school meals due to school closures. Yesterday, a Brookings Institution study found that P-EBT, which Congress passed under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, prevented at least 2.7 million children from going hungry in the week… Continue Reading
Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act: What People Are Saying
07.30.20 WASHINGTON - The Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act is House Democrats' plan to expand access to free school meals for all children during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to prevent the collapse of school nutrition programs. Here's what the nation's leading anti-hunger and child nutrition organizations are saying about the bill. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND): "The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics believes that school meals are as important to learning as textbooks and pencils. In the… Continue Reading
Committee Democrats to Scalia: Stop Undermining Americans’ Ability to Make “Sustainable Investments”
07.30.20 WASHINGTON - In a letter to Secretary Eugene Scalia, 21 Committee Democrats expressed deep concern about the Department of Labor's (DOL) proposed rule to undermine workers' ability to invest responsibly when saving for retirement. The rule would needlessly restrict retirement plans for considering environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when making investment decisions. In the letter to Secretary Scalia, the Members said the DOL failed to provide an adequate justification for overtu… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Introduces Bill to Provide Free School Meals to All Students During COVID-19 Pandemic
07.30.20 WASHINGTON - Today, House Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) introduced legislation to make all students eligible for free school meals during the 2020-2021 school year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act would allow all children to access breakfast, lunch, and afterschool snack programs either in school or through "grab and go" and delivery options. The Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act is co-led by Rep. Marc… Continue Reading
Alexander, Murray, Pallone, Walden, Scott, Foxx Joint Statement on White House Surprise Medical Billing Report
07.29.20 WASHINGTON - Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Ranking Member Greg Walden (R-Ore.), House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) today released the following statement on the White House's call for Congress to pass legislation ending the practice of surprise medical billing: "Patients have demande… Continue Reading
House Passes Child Care is Essential Act
07.29.20 WASHINGTON - The House today passed H.R. 7027, the Child Care is Essential Act, urgently-needed legislation to immediately address the problems child care providers have in staying open and covering their increased operating costs with limited revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Without child care, parents cannot return to work, business cannot reopen, and young children cannot access invaluable early learning opportunities. But at this moment our child care industry stands on the brink of c… Continue Reading