Press Releases

Democratic Committee Leaders Slam New Trump Administration Health Care Sabotage

10.22.18 WASHINGTON - Today, the three House Democratic leaders of the committees with jurisdiction over health care, Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), and Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following joint statement after the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of the Treasury issued a new guidance. This guidance continues Republicans' unrelenting push to sabotage… Continue Reading

Over 150 Democrats Call on DeVos to Release More Information about the Department’s Failure to Faithfully Implement the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program

10.17.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, along with Representatives Susan Davis (CA-53) and John Sarbanes (MD-03), and Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), led more than 150 Democrats requesting Education Secretary Betsy DeVos turn over more information-and swiftly act to fix- regarding the Department's flawed handling … Continue Reading

Bonamici Applauds Court Decision on Student Debt Relief

10.17.18 WASHINGTON, DC [10/16/18] - Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) applauded a court decision that allowed an Obama-era rule that protects student loan borrowers and holds predatory for-profit colleges accountable to go into effect today. The decision ended months of delay for the enforcement of the Borrower Defense rule, which was originally announced in 2016. More than 100,000 borrowers in the country, including many Oregonians, were deceived by for-profit colleges. Many of the students who w… Continue Reading

Ranking Member Scott Statement on Court Ruling in Borrower Defense Lawsuit

10.16.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after a federal court judge ruled the Department of Education illegally delayed the "Borrower Defense" (BD) rule. The rule was established under President Obama in the wake of two massive for-profit college closures to provide relief to defrauded students. "Today's court ruling is a major victory for students. In September, the Court found the Department illegally delayed the Borrower's Defense regulations, delaying … Continue Reading

Rep. Mark Takano Statement on Court Decision Regarding Borrowers’ Defense Rule

10.16.18 WASHINGTON - Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) released the following statement after a U.S. District Court judge denied an injunction that would have reversed a rule promulgated in 2016 to protect student loan borrowers from misleading, deceitful, and predatory practices: "Today's court decision on the 2016 borrowers' defense rule is a major victory for students across the United States. The court's ruling has permitted these much-needed consumer protections to take effect at noon today, putting an… Continue Reading

Scott Statement on Material Errors in Education Department’s Recommendation to Recognize Troubled College Accreditor

10.05.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the statement in response to news reports revealing the Department of Education's recommendation to grant the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) another year as a recognized accreditor mischaracterized input from respected accrediting agencies. "The inaccuracies in Ms. Auer Jones's report recommending recognition for the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) calls into question the legi… Continue Reading

Scott Statement on September Jobs Report

10.05.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 134,000 jobs in September, with the unemployment rate at 3.7 percent. "Today's jobs report once again shows that despite the continued strength of the U.S. economy, too many U.S. workers are still being left behind. While corporate profits and shareholder buybacks are hitting record highs, annualized wage growth is just 2.8%, which is barely enoug… Continue Reading

Scott Statement on Education Department Missing Deadline to Finalize Rollback of Consumer Protections

10.03.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement in response to reports that the Education Department will miss a deadline to finalize its rollback of rules that protect students from predatory schools. The delay, which is a result of the overwhelming number of public comments submitted in response to the proposals, means the Obama-era protections for students and taxpayers will remain in effect until at least July 1, 2020. "The reported delay in the Trump administ… Continue Reading

Scott Statement on the Recognition ACICS

10.01.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after Diane Auer Jones, a senior official at the Department of Education and former for-profit college executive, submitted a recommendation that Secretary DeVos grant the Accrediting Council of Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) an additional year as a recognized accreditor despite continued lack of compliance with federal standards for accrediting agencies. "Students, their families, and the federal governmen… Continue Reading

Ranking Member Scott Statement on Legislation to Address Opioid Epidemic

09.28.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the House passed the Substance Use Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act). "The opioid epidemic has claimed the lives of family members, friends, coworkers, and neighbors in communities across this country. This bill will help bring an end to these tragedies by improving access to evidence-based substance use d… Continue Reading

House Passes Bill to Enhance Protections for Missing and Exploited Children

09.28.18 WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, issued the following statement after the House unanimously passed the Missing Children's Assistance Act (S. 3354), which renews a grant to support efforts to find missing children and prevent child exploitation. "The pain, trauma, fear, and uncertainty experienced by parents of a missing child is unfathomable. Affected families and children need the full support of law enforcemen… Continue Reading

Ranking Member Scott Statement on Labor-HHS-Education Funding Package

09.27.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement following passage of the Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 6157, the Department of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act of 2019. "This funding package is a bipartisan rejection of President Trump's proposed cuts to education, workplace safety and training, and programs that expand access to affordable health care for families across the country. In fact, many programs targ… Continue Reading

GAO Report: Trump Administration Causes Confusion, Uncertainty in Loan Forgiveness Program

09.27.18 WASHINGTON- Today, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce and Congresswoman Susan Davis (CA-53), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, released a GAO report that found serious shortcomings in the Trump administration's implementation of the popular Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Established in 2007, PSLF offers loan forgiveness to public servants who work for a qualified employ… Continue Reading

Top House Democrats: Proposed Change to Child Labor Rules Could Endanger Young People and Patients

09.26.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03), Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), and Congressman Mark Takano (CA-41), and Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Labor released a proposed rule to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to operate patient lifts in health care settings. "This rushed proposal to repeal restrictions on teens' use of patient lifts could endanger the safety of young workers and the patients they serve. It appears the De… Continue Reading

Committee Democrats Highlight Importance of Civil Rights Protections During Hearing on Campus Free Speech

09.26.18 WASHINGTON - Today, during a full Committee hearing examining First Amendment rights on college campuses, Committee Democrats described how the Trump administration's one-sided approach to free speech protections is politicizing and undermining the practice of free expression. Democratic members highlighted examples of the administration engaging in a partisan defense of free speech, while ignoring the federal government's responsibility to support colleges and universities in protecting the civ… Continue Reading

Scott Repeats Call for Hearings to Examine Troubling State of Education in Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands One Year After Hurricane Maria

09.20.18 WASHINGTON - Today, Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03), the top Democrat on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, sent a second letter to Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (NC-05) requesting hearings before the full Committee to examine the troubling state of education in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The U.S. Virgin Islands Board of Education reported a drop of nearly 4,000 students enrolled in schools in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, while Puer… Continue Reading

House and Senate Democrats Condemn DeVos for Her Latest Attempt to Put Predatory Corporations and Institutions Over Students

09.17.18 WASHINGTON - Led by Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, 108 Members of Congress submitted a comment letter to Secretary DeVos urging the Department of Education (ED) to suspend the new, aggressive rulemaking process that could abandon key protections and give free rein to predatory institutions. "Over the past 18 mon… Continue Reading

Ranking Member Scott: NLRB Proposed Rulemaking Would Let Employers Evade Responsibility to Workers

09.14.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced its proposed rulemaking to narrow its standard for determining whether two or more entities are joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act. "The NLRB's proposed change to the joint employer standards will prevent millions of American workers from successfully negotiating for better pay and working conditions. Rather than supporting the traditional … Continue Reading

Scott Urges DeVos to Protect Students from Predatory For-Profit Colleges and Reverse Proposal to Eliminate Gainful Employment Rule

09.13.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03), the top Democrat on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, submitted a public comment to the Department of Education today urging the Department to abandon its proposed repeal of the "Gainful Employment" (GE) rule. The GE rule sets the enforcement standard to ensure that career programs and for-profit institutions, many of which have a demonstrated history of leaving students with debt they cannot repay, comply with federal law. In the let… Continue Reading

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