Robert C. (Bobby) Scott

Congressman Bobby Scott has represented Virginia’s 3rd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1993 (103rd Congress-Present). Scott was the first African American elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Virginia following Reconstruction and only the second African American elected to Congress in Virginia’s history. Having a maternal grandfather of Filipino ancestry also makes him the first American with Filipino ancestry to serve as a voting member of Congress. Before coming to Congress, Scott served in the Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia. Scott currently serves as ranking member of the Education and Labor Committee, a committee he chaired during the 116th and 117th Congresses. In 2015, Scott was one of the four primary authors of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act for the first time in 13 years and replaced the No Child Left Behind Act. Additionally, he worked to secure the passage of legislation to reform and update our nation’s career and technical education system and the juvenile justice system. Scott also serves on the Committee on the Budget. He previously served on the Committee on the Judiciary and was a ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Constitution and former chairman and ranking member on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. His other past committee service includes membership on the Committee on Ethics; Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; Select Committee on U.S. National and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People’s Republic of China; and the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans. Scott is also a leading advocate for criminal justice reform. He sponsored the Death in Custody Reporting Act, which was initially signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 2000. Its subsequent reauthorization was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2014. Scott received his bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College and his Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School.