Press Releases
Statement on 2015-2016 Student Loan Interest Rates
05.14.15 WASHINGTON - Committee on Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), issued the following statement on the student loan rates for the 2015-2016 academic year: "For the 2015-2016 academic year, the interest rates on federal loans based on the 10-year Treasury Note will fall from 4.66 percent to 4.29 percent. Though this is good news for next year's borrowers-who will be able to take advantage of historically low interest rates-it still leaves current … Continue Reading
Scott Statement on New Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Report
05.08.15 WASHINGTON - House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) released the following statement on a new report from the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education examining the state of civil rights enforcement in schools across America, from pre-K to post-secondary education: "The Office of Civil Rights' "Protecting Civil Rights, Advancing Equity" report - based on data collected from approximately 97,000 public schools and about 49 mill… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on New Department of Education Office of Civil Rights Report
05.08.15 WASHINGTON - House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) released the following statement on a new report from the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education examining the state of civil rights enforcement in schools across America, from pre-K to post-secondary education: "The Office of Civil Rights' "Protecting Civil Rights, Advancing Equity" report - based on data collected from approximately 97,000 public schools and about 49 mill… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on April Jobs Report
05.08.15 WASHINGTON- House Committee on Education and the Workforce Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) released the following statement today after the release of the monthly jobs report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS announced that during the month of April, 223,000 jobs were created and the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent - the lowest since May 2008. To date, the economy has now had a record 62 consecutive months of private sector job growth. "The jobs report release… Continue Reading
Scott, Jones, Gowdy and Cárdenas Introduce Youth PROMISE Act
05.01.15 WASHINGTON - Today Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, Congressman Walter Jones (R-NC), Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) and Congressman Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) introduced the Youth Prison Reduction through Opportunities, Mentoring, Intervention, Support, and Education ("Youth PROMISE") Act (H.R. 2197). The Youth PROMISE Act will provide resources to communities to engage in comprehensive, evidence-based prevention… Continue Reading
MINIMUM WAGE: Scott, Murray Introduce the Raise the Wage Act
04.30.15 Legislation would increase federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $12 per hour by 2020 Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) and U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced the Raise the Wage Act, legislation that would increase the minimum wage to $12 by 2020. The Raise the Wage Act would also index the federal minimum wage to the median wage, and gradually eliminate the subminimum tipped wage. The legislation would raise wages for nearly 35 million … Continue Reading
Scott Statement on the Closing of Corinthian Colleges, Inc.
04.28.15 WASHINGTON - House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) released the following statement today on the closing of Corinthian Colleges, Inc.: "After being hit with a $30 million fine from the U.S. Department of Education, the doors of Corinthian Colleges, Inc. have been shut once and for all. The fine was based on Department of Education findings that one of Corinthian's subsidiaries - Heald College - had both misrepresented placement rates to accre… Continue Reading
Workforce Protections Subcommittee Receives Enforcement Update from the Mine Safety and Health Administration
04.23.15 WASHINGTON - Today, in a hearing entitled "Protecting America's Workers: An Enforcement Update from the Mine Safety and Health Administration" the head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), testified before the Workforce Protections Subcommittee. Joe Main, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety, outlined the steps that have been taken to protect miners in the five years since the Upper Big Branch tragedy took the lives of 29 miners in a preventable explosion. Mr. Main a… Continue Reading
Investing in the Future of American Indian and Alaska Native Students
04.22.15 WASHINGTON - Today, the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education held a hearing to discuss the educational challenges impacting American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students and schools. The hearing entitled "Examining the Challenges Facing Native American Schools" is the first hearing exploring this topic since 2008. Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) joined the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Ear… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on New Report Confirming Parent PLUS Loan Program Impact On Historically Black Colleges and Universities
04.16.15 Washington - Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, released the following statement on a new report from the Regional Educational Laboratory Mid-Atlantic detailing the impact of the Parent PLUS Loan Program on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): "A new report validated concerns I and many other Members had over the changes to the Parent PLUS Loan Program. The changes disproportionately affected Histor… Continue Reading
Virginia First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe Testifies on the Importance of Child Nutrition
04.16.15 Examining ways to serve our nation's children by meeting their nutritional needs WASHINGTON - The Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing yesterday to discuss the scope and impact of federal child nutrition programs. Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) was joined by the First Lady of Virginia, Mrs. Dorothy McAuliffe, to explore ways we can continue to improve and strengthen nutrition programs for the 40 million children who rely on them every day for healthy food. Our… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on the Senate’s Every Child Achieves Act
04.16.15 WASHINGTON - House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) released the following statement today on the passage of the Every Child Achieves Act by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions: "Today's unanimous passage of the Every Child Achieves Act by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions should serve as an example of bipartisanship for the House of Representatives to follow. "While today represents anot… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on EEOC Proposed Rule
04.16.15 WASHINGTON - Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) issued the following statement after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released their proposed rule, "Amendments to Regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act": "Antidiscrimination laws are a vital part of our legal framework to ensure that Americans are treated fairly and equally in the workplace. It is imperative that we work to uphold the standards outlined in the… Continue Reading
Scott and Cummings Push for Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces
04.16.15 WASHINGTON - Today, 80 members of the House of Representatives called upon the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Labor to complete the review required to implement the President's Executive Order on Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (EO 13673). Representatives Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led the congressional movement.… Continue Reading
Scott Commends the Department of Labor on Efforts to Strengthen Consumer Protections
04.15.15 Proposed rule takes aim at conflicted and bad retirement advice WASHINGTON - Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, released the following statement after the Department of Labor released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will provide new standards to ensure retirement advisors act in the best interest of their clients when giving investment advice: "Today, the Department of Labor took a much needed step to p… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on Equal Pay Day
04.14.15 WASHINGTON- House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) issued the following statement on Equal Pay Day, which reflects how far into the current year women must work to match what men earned in the previous year: "With nearly 61 consecutive months of job growth, the labor market continues to expand and provide Americans with more employment opportunities, but despite this tremendous progress, wealth inequality in our country continues to grow. Thi… Continue Reading
Five Years in, the Affordable Care Act is Working
04.14.15 HELP subcommittee hearing highlights ways ACA is strengthening employee-sponsored insurance WASHINGTON - Today, in their continued attempt to undermine the Affordable Care Act, Republicans of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) held a subcommittee hearing to challenge the law. During the hearing, Education and the Workforce Democrats reinforced the importance of the need to protect access to affordable health care for all Americans. "It's important to rememb… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on NLRB Election Rules
04.14.15 WASHINGTON - Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, released the following statement today after the National Labor Relations Board new rules for the union election process went into effect: "These modest updates to an outdated rule help create a more fair, efficient, and modern workplace election process. By streamlining communication and calling for a timely exchange of information, the rule creates a clearer, more … Continue Reading
Ranking Member Scott, Tri-Caucus Chairs Push for Stronger ESEA Bill
04.14.15 WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) considers the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015, a bi-partisan education proposal put forth by Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and leaders of the Congressional Tri-Caucus - comprised of the Congressional Asi… Continue Reading
Scott Statement on Labor Department Inspector General Report
04.13.15 WASHINGTON- House Education and the Workforce Committee Ranking Member Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA) issued the following statement today on the Department of Labor Inspector General's newly released report on procedural changes to reduce the time required to adjudicate black lung benefit claims: "Miners with black lung disease are entitled to an accurate medical evaluation, fair treatment and timely decisions. The DOL Inspector General (IG) has made 23 recommendations that could enab… Continue Reading