Press Releases
Committee Democrats Introduce Legislation to Protect Health Care Workers Against COVID-19
03.10.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Rep. Donna Shalala (FL-27) were joined by 19 House Democrats in introducing legislation to protect the safety of health care workers caring for patients with the coronavirus. The COVID-19 Health Care Worker Protection Act of 2020 (H.R. 6139) would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard to ensure health care facilities implement comprehensive infectious disease exposure con… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott, Rep. Adams Warn CDC Against Weakening Coronavirus Protections for Health Care Workers
03.09.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chair Alma Adams (NC-12) sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Azar raising strong opposition to plans by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to weaken protections for health care workers and emergency responders caring for patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. In recent days, the CDC has signaled plans… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Asks Education Department Watchdog to Investigate DeVos’ Plan to Deny Full Debt Relief for Defrauded Borrowers
03.09.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) sent a letter to the Education Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) requesting an investigation into the Department's plan to deny full debt relief for borrowers defrauded by for-profit colleges. The request comes after multiple independent analyses found that the Department's new plan to provide only partial relief to defrauded borrowers was "nonsensical and harmful to students." On Decembe… Continue Reading
Democratic Health Leaders Urge Verma to Withdraw Proposals that Increase Health Costs and Kick Thousands Off Coverage
03.06.20 WASHINGTON - Bicameral Democratic health leaders wrote to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma today urging the agency to withdraw its proposed policies included in a February proposed rule that would result in higher out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans and thousands of low-income families losing their health insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The letter was signed by House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ho… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on February Jobs Report
03.06.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 273,000 jobs in February with the unemployment rate at 3.5 percent. "Today's job report does little to ease serious concerns about the state of the American economy as we enter a period of significant uncertainty. Despite the president's claim that his policies have increased wages for American workers, a new analysis found that real wage growth for midd… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott, Rep. Adams Call on Secretary Scalia to Take Immediate Action to Protect Workers Against COVID-19
03.06.20 WASHINGTON - Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chair Alma Adams (NC-12) called on Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Eugene Scalia to take immediate action to protect U.S. workers against COVID-19. In a letter to the Department, the Committee leaders asked Secretary Scalia to direct the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue an Emergency Temporary Standard in response to the emerging COVID-1… Continue Reading
GAO Report Finds Lax Government Oversight Allowed Coal Mine Executives to Dump Nearly $1 Billion in Debt on U.S. Taxpayers
02.26.20 *Subcommittee on Workforce Protections will hold a hearing on the report today at 2:00 p.m.* WASHINGTON - A new report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) today revealed that since 2014, the bankruptcies of just three coal companies - Alpha Natural Resources, James River Coal, and Patriot Coal - shifted $865 million in liabilities to the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (Trust Fund) and American taxpayers. In each case, the report found that the Department of Labor failed to … Continue Reading
Chairman Scott: NLRB’s Joint Employer Rule Erodes Workers’ Most Basic Workplace Rights
02.25.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, issued the following statement after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced a final rule to narrow its standard for determining whether two or more entities are joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act. "Workers can only negotiate for higher pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions if all companies with control over their employment are required to be at th… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Honors Public Schools Week, Calls for Investments in School Infrastructure
02.25.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement to honor Public Schools Week. "Strong public schools are the foundation of success for young people across the country. But in many American communities, students, teachers, and parents continue to suffer the consequences of our failure to prioritize funding for public education. "On average, K-12 school facilities are nearly 45 years old and are being underfunded by $46 billion each year, with high-poverty and majority B… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Calls on Trump Administration to Withdraw Proposals Supporting Taxpayer-Funded Religious Discrimination
02.21.20 WASHINGTON - Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) sent four letters to the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education (ED), Labor (DOL), and Justice (DOJ) expressing strong opposition to the administration's sweeping set of proposed rules that would allow religious discrimination against employees and students in federally funded programs and violate the religious liberty rights of individuals accessing federally sponsored social service progra… Continue Reading
Committee Advances Bipartisan Solution to Ban Surprise Billing
02.11.20 WASHINGTON - Today, the Committee on Education and Labor advanced the Ban Surprise Billing Act (H.R. 5800), a bipartisan proposal to protect patients from devastating surprise medical bills. The legislation builds on various bipartisan solutions to shield patients from unexpected out-of-pocket health care costs. "Surprise medical billing is a troubling and all-too-common product of our complex health care system. The status quo is unacceptable. Patients are getting hit with astronomical bills a… Continue Reading
Ban Surprise Billing Act: What People Are Saying
02.11.20 WASHINGTON -Surprise medical bills - which are large, unanticipated out-of-pocket expenses that insured patients incur through no fault of their own - have a devastating financial impact on patients and their access to health care. The Ban Surprise Billing Act (H.R.5800) is a bipartisan agreement to protect patients from surprise medical bills. Here's what people are saying about this proposal: 23 Patient and Consumer Organizations: "The Ban Surprise Billing Act offers robust protections for a… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on President Trump’s FY 2021 Budget Proposal
02.10.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the White House released its Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021) budget priorities. "President Trump's budget proposal is another shocking demonstration of the administration's willingness to break its promises to the American people. Just two days after President Trump pledged that he would not cut Social Security or Medicare, the president released a FY 2021 budget proposal that cuts more than $1 trillion over the next deca… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott, Ranking Member Foxx Unveil Bipartisan Proposal to Ban Surprise Billing, Markup Scheduled Tuesday
02.07.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Ranking Member Virginia Foxx (NC-05) unveiled the Ban Surprise Billing Act, a bipartisan agreement to protect patients from devastating surprise bills. The Committee is scheduled to markup the legislation on Tuesday, February 11. "Patients across the country know the frustration, anxiety, and financial hardship that comes with a surprise medical bill," said Chairman Scott. "There is bipartisan agre… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on January Jobs Report
02.07.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 225,000 jobs in January with the unemployment rate at 3.6 percent. "During his State of the Union address, President Trump touted his administration's record on job creation, claiming that 'jobs are booming, incomes are soaring, poverty is plummeting.' Yet the economy added more private-sector jobs in the last 35 months of the Obama administration than … Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Celebrates the House Passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act
02.06.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the House voted to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act [224-194]. "Today, House Democrats advanced the most significant upgrade to U.S. labor law in 80 years. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act is a bold proposal that makes necessary changes to protect and strengthen workers' power in the workplace. "When workers have the power to stand together and form a union, they have higher pay, be… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Reacts to State of the Union
02.04.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement in response to the State of the Union. "I am disappointed that President Trump's State of the Union address failed to offer meaningful solutions to the critical issues facing students, workers, and families across the country. "The president did not offer a serious plan to reverse the chronic underfunding of public education. Instead, he touted a $5 billion private school voucher program that would function as a tax break… Continue Reading
Scott, Trahan Seek Explanation for Education Department’s Scheme to Deny Full Debt Relief for Thousands of Defrauded Borrowers
02.03.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Representative Lori Trahan (MA-03) sent a letter to Education Department Secretary Betsy DeVos requesting documents and further information regarding the Department's deeply flawed partial relief formula and the Department's efforts to alter the formula. Two days before Secretary DeVos' testimony before the Committee, the Department unveiled a new formula to process claims by defrauded borrowers … Continue Reading
Congress Seeks Documents on Trump Administration’s Change to Longstanding Rules Protecting Federal Employees
01.23.20 WASHINGTON, DC -Today, Rep. Bobby Scott, the Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, sent a letter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) seeking documents and information about the change proposed to longstanding federal rules ensuring that federal employees who bring complaints for illegal employment discrimination may be accompanied by the representatives of their choice. "As the Ch… Continue Reading
House Health Leaders Call On HHS and DOL to Reduce Confusion and Financial Risks for Medicare-Eligible COBRA Beneficiaries
01.21.20 WASHINGTON, DC - Today, the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House committees with jurisdiction over health care sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Eugene Scalia regarding challenges facing workers and retirees that can result in unexpected penalties and unnecessary out-of-pocket expenses. Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ways and Means Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), Energy and … Continue Reading