POISED TO BE A POWER PLAYER
A quarter century after first coming to Washington, U.S. Rep. Robert C. “Bobby” Scott — who represents a large swath of Hampton Roads — is emerging as a power player.
With the Democrats winning a substantial majority of House of Representatives seats in last month’s elections, Scott is in line to become chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee when the new Congress takes office in January. A Scott staff member described the panel as overseeing citizens’ welfare from “cradle to retirement.”
Democrats also are bringing back the panel’s old name, the Education and Labor Committee, to place emphasis on workers rather than employers .
At an age when many people contemplate taking it easy, the 71-year-old lawmaker is relishing the prospect of a leading role in a new push for a higher minimum wage, more investment in
education and strengthening the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. He also expects to directly challenge the sometimes controversial labor- and education-related regulations supported by President Donald Trump.
The next two years are expected to be a dramatic change from the first 24 months of Trump’s administration, when the Republican-controlled House offered little resistance to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ policies shifts and paid almost no attention to the Democrats’ concerns. The same has been true with Labor Department regulatory changes. With Democrats in control of the House, party members have clout that cannot be ignored.
However, Scott stressed in a recent interview in his 10th-floor office in Newport News that Democrats can’t expect to make gains without working with their GOP colleagues.
“If anything is going to become law, it has to go through the Republican Senate and (be) signed by the president,” he said. “That would create a great incentive to get legislation crafted in a bipartisan fashion before it leaves the House.”
Areas of focus
Scott is an unabashed liberal who favors stronger worker protections and substantial increases in spending for education, criminal justice reform, and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.
Like all Hampton Roads federal lawmakers, he’s a supporter of robust defense spending. He opposed last year’s Republican tax overhaul bill that became law, arguing it needlessly raised the federal debt by trillions of dollars to give tax cuts when a fraction of the money could have been spent to rebuild crumbling schools and other projects.
Among bills Scott has introduced is the Aim Higher Act, which is intended to lower the cost of college in part by raising the amount of federal aid and making it easier to pay off student loans.
The work of the Education and Labor Committee generally follows two paths: considering legislation and monitoring executive branch regula- tory changes.
For example, high on Scott’s agenda is legislation to raise today’s $7.25-an-hour minimum wage to $15 a hour — a proposal many Republicans have opposed. The GOP says the increase would cause small businesses to cut jobs or falter.
Scott contends the tide is turning in his favor.
“The minimum wage may be a partisan issue ... but it was on the ballot in several red states and passed with comfortable margins,” he said. There is growing bipartisan consensus in the House that $7.25 is too low, but the GOP leadership hasn’t allowed a floor vote to raise it, Scott said.
Scott won’t discuss how big an increase he thinks could pass both houses. “If a reasonable bill is produced, I would expect it to have significant support,” he said. Congress last agreed to raise the minimum wage 11 years ago, voting to gradually raise it to $7.25 an hour from $5.15.
Playing politics
In terms of Trump administration regulatory changes, Scott said his committee will press the Labor Department to defend worker-related proposals that include allowing employers to collect a share of workers’ tips and weakening wage protections for temporary workers.
The administration has the authority to revise federal regulations, but only if it provides “bona fide evidence that it’s a good idea,” Scott said. “There are lots of changes that have been made for which the evidence was, in my judgment, insufficient.”
The committee can ask for detailed documentation supporting the need for changes and request agency heads to explain them in public hearings. If the officials refuse, the committee can issue subpoenas forcing them to testify
Such hearings cannot force the administration to back off regulations that Democrats don’t like, but the public inquiries can spur legal action by those affected by the regulations, Scott said. “It’s mostly a bully pulpit, and the victims of the change are invited to file lawsuits.”
If Democrats want to get rough, they also can insert stipulations in spending bills drafted by the House Appropriations Committee to block funding to carry out specific regulation changes.
In addition to his likely chairmanship, Scott is seeking to join the House Judiciary Committee, where he has worked for decades on legislation to reform the criminal justice system, including greater emphasis on prevention and rehabilitation and ending mandatory minimum sentences for many offenses. That committee will be led by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat.
Scott, the son of the late Dr. Charles Waldo Scott, a prominent Newport News surgeon and civil right leader, was an attorney and served 15 years in the Virginia General Assembly before being elected to Congress in 1992. He was the first black representative elected from Virginia since 1891.
He was unopposed in the Nov. 6 election in the 3rd Congressional District when he won his 14th twoyear term. The district, whose boundaries have changed over the years, includes all of Portsmouth, Newport News, Franklin and Isle of Wight County and parts of Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton and Suffolk.
Virginia voters contributed to the national Democratic sweep that led to Scott’s senior status gaining him a chairmanship. Voters in three Virginia districts ousted GOP incumbents switching the state’s 11-member congressional delegation from a 7-4 Republican majority to a 7-4 Democratic majority. Among those new Democrats is Norfolk businesswoman Elaine Luria, who defeated Rep. Scott Taylor, a Virginia Beach Republican, in the 2nd District. Bill Bartel, 757-446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com