Press Releases
Waters, Scott, Brown and Murray Call on SEC to Increase Investor Protections
09.12.18 WASHINGTON -- Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services; Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce; Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton urging the S… Continue Reading
Scott, Bonamici to Congressional Leadership: Stop Secretary DeVos from Wrongly Spending Education Money on Guns
09.10.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Vice Ranking Member Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01) wrote a letter to House and Senate leadership urging them to prohibit the use of federal funds to purchase firearms or firearms training for teachers in the final Fiscal Year 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) funding bill. This comes on the heels of a letter Secretary DeVos wrote to Congress where she shirks her secretarial responsibility and communic… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Statement on August Jobs Report
09.07.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 201,000 jobs in August, with the unemployment rate at 3.9 percent. "Today's jobs report once again shows that the Republican tax bill is nothing but a broken promise to American workers. The White House predicted passing their tax scheme would increase the average family's annual income by at least $4,000. Nine months later, the typical worker's wa… Continue Reading
Scott, Foxx Praise House Passage of Bipartisan Financial Aid Legislation
09.05.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) and Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (NC-05) issued the following statement after the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1635, the bipartisan Empowering Students through Enhanced Financial Counseling Act. Sponsored by Reps. Brett Guthrie (KY-02) and Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01), the legislation will improve financial aid counseling for students receiving a Pell Grant or a federal loan. "The decision to take out student loans can have lifelong consequences f… Continue Reading
Democrats Promote Benefits of Registered Apprenticeships, Increase Economic Mobility for American Workers
09.05.18 WASHINGTON - Today, at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development (HEWD), Committee Democrats promoted high-quality registered apprenticeship programs as a proven path to help American workers develop the skills they need to qualify for good-paying jobs and rewarding careers. The hearing, entitled "On-The-Job: Rebuilding the Workforce Through Apprenticeships," gave Democrats an opportunity to highlight the benefits of registered apprenticeships programs, which a… Continue Reading
Representatives DeSaulnier, Pocan, Norcross, and Dingell Issue “Future of Work, Wages, and Labor” Report and Legislative Action Plan
09.05.18 WASHINGTON- On the heels of Labor Day, Democratic Representatives Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), and Debbie Dingell (MI-12) today issued the findings of their "Future of Work, Wages, and Labor" initiative - launched in early 2016. The Members spent over two years traveling across the country and meeting with experts, labor leaders, and workers to develop policy proposals that address longstanding problems in the workforce and new trends like automation and … Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott: “Outrageous” That Secretary DeVos Will Allow Federal Education Funds to be Spent on Guns
08.31.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to a letter from Secretary Betsy DeVos that stated the Department of Education will allow schools to use taxpayer money to arm teachers. "Arming teachers will recklessly endanger both students and educators. It is outrageous that Secretary DeVos will allow federal education funds to be spent putting guns in the classroom. If Secretary DeVos refuses to adhere to congressional intent and the administratio… Continue Reading
Committee Democrats to DeVos: Proposed Borrowers Defense Rule Will Hurt Defrauded Students
08.31.18 WASHINGTON - All 17 Democratic Members of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, led by Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03), sent a letter to Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to express their strong opposition to the Department's proposed rule on borrower defense to repayment. The letter details seven major concerns the Members have with the proposed rule and calls on the Department to abandon its proposal. The proposed rule, "severely limits eligibility of defrauded borrowers to seek a… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott: Draft DeVos Proposal on Sexual Misconduct is a Major Step Backwards
08.30.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to a report from the New York Times that revealed Secretary DeVos's draft proposal to rewrite policies for addressing sexual misconduct on campus. "The draft regulation regarding sexual harassment and misconduct that is reportedly under consideration by Secretary DeVos would be a major step backward in our collective effort to provide a safe learning environment for all students. The proposed rule creat… Continue Reading
House Democrats to Secretary DeVos: Don’t Spend Education Money on Guns
08.28.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) and more than 170 House Democrats sent a letter today to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos calling on the Department to issue formal guidance prohibiting the use of federal education funding to buy guns for teachers and school staff. The letter comes in the wake of a New York Times report revealing the administration's consideration of a proposal that would allow schools to redirect federal K-12 education funding, for services like mental health coun… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Reacts to Resignation of CFPB’s Student Loan Watchdog
08.27.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after Seth Frotman, Student Loan Ombudsman at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, announced his resignation in a letter to Acting Director Mick Mulvaney. In the letter, Frotman says the Bureau has "abandoned the very consumers it is tasked by Congress with protecting." "Seth Frotman's resignation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is further evidence that the Bureau's current leadership is failing t… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Bobby Scott on Report of DeVos’s Proposal to Arm Teachers
08.23.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after a report from the New York Times that the Department of Education is considering a proposal that would allow money that was intended to be used for mental health services and bullying prevention to be used to purchase guns. "The Trump administration has a duty to carry out the laws as Congress intended. As one of the primary authors of Every Student Succeeds Act, I am certain that Congress never intended - or e… Continue Reading
Top Democrats: CMS Rule Undermines Home Care Workers, Jeopardizes Quality of Care for Seniors and People with Disabilities
08.13.18 WASHINGTON - Today, Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA), House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, submitted a public comment to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma expressing their opposition to a proposed rule that would make it harder for home care workers to direct their own wages to support their union. The rule proposed by CMS would reverse a 201… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott: By Eliminating Gainful Employment Rule, Trump Administration Once Again Puts Profits Above Students and Taxpayers
08.10.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to the Trump administration's decision to eliminate the Gainful Employment rule, which was established by the Obama administration to set a clear enforcement standard for career programs and for-profit institutions that have a demonstrated history of leaving students with debt they cannot repay. "The Trump administration's decision to eliminate - rather than revise or replace - the Gainful Employment ru… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott Statement on July Jobs Report
08.03.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 157,000 in July, with the unemployment rate at 3.9 percent. "Today's jobs report highlights the failure of the Republican tax bill to improve the lives of hard-working Americans. The report shows that unemployment dropped to 3.9 percent but annual wage growth remained at a paltry 2.7 percent. Instead of benefitting workers or investing in new equ… Continue Reading
47 Democrats Caution DOL About Plans to Weaken Hazardous Work Protections for Young Workers
08.02.18 WASHINGTON - Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Congressman Mark Takano (CA-41), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), ranking member of the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human, Services, Education, and Related Agencies, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-40), Congressman Keith Ellison (MN-05), along with 42 other House Democrats sent a letter… Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott: DeVos Regulatory Agenda is an Ominous Sign for Students and Taxpayers
07.30.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Department of Education announced plans to form a negotiated rulemaking committee to rewrite rules regarding accountability in higher education. "The regulatory agenda announced today by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is an ominous sign for students and taxpayers. The current rules governing oversight and accountability in higher education reflect the responsibility and intent of Congress to create a syste… Continue Reading
Scott, Murray, Butterfield, Casey: To Improve HBCU Campuses Direct Outreach and Loan Modification is Needed
07.26.18 WASHINGTON - Today, Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03), ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC-01), and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), released a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Action Needed To Improve Participation in Education's HBCU Capital Financing Program. The mem… Continue Reading
Scott, Foxx Praise Final House Action on Bipartisan CTE Legislation
07.25.18 WASHINGTON - Today, the House of Representatives sent to the President's desk H.R. 2353, the bipartisan Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act. Sponsored by Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), the legislation will help more Americans get the skills they need to compete for good-paying, in-demand industry jobs. During floor debate, Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), ranking member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, said: "Because … Continue Reading
Scott Statement on Final Proposed Borrowers Defense Rule
07.25.18 WASHINGTON - Ranking Member Bobby Scott (VA-03) released the following statement in response to the Trump administration's release of a final proposed Borrowers Defense rule. "The Trump administration's final proposed Borrowers Defense rule is yet another assault on consumer protections for student borrowers. Rather than supporting students who are cheated out of the education and the future they signed up for, the administration is proposing a new, burdensome process for evaluating claims that… Continue Reading