Austin Scott | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait,c. 2022 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's8th district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Jim Marshall |
| Member of theGeorgia House of Representatives | |
| In office 1996–2011 | |
| Preceded by | Henry Bostick |
| Succeeded by | Tony McBrayer |
| Constituency | 165th district (1996–2003) 138th district (2003–2005) 153rd district (2005–2011) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1969-12-10)December 10, 1969 (age 55) Augusta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Vivien Scott |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | University of Georgia (BBA) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
James Austin Scott (born December 10, 1969)[1] is an American politician who is theU.S. representative forGeorgia's 8th congressional district, serving since 2011. Scott served as aRepublican member of theGeorgia House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. House. He is the longest currently serving Republican inGeorgia's congressional delegation.
Scott's father, Jim, is an orthopedic surgeon and his mother, Becky, is a teacher in the public school system.[citation needed] Scott graduated from theUniversity of Georgia with aBachelor of Business Administration inrisk management andinsurance. He passed theSeries 7 Exam.[2]
Scott is president of the Southern Group, LLC and a partner in Lockett Station Group, LLC.[3]
Scott was first elected to theGeorgia House of Representatives at the age of 26. He chaired the Governmental Affairs Committee and served on the Appropriations, Rules, and Ways and Means Committee, where he chaired the Public Policy Subcommittee. The district he represented comprisesTift andTurner Counties.
In 2001, Scott was the first Republican in the Georgia House to work with Democrats to remove theConfederate battle emblem from the state's flag.[4]
With millions of dollars in campaign donations from nationalPACs, Scott challenged Democratic incumbentJim Marshall in Georgia's 8th congressional district. He defeated Marshall in the November 2 general election with 53% of the vote to Marshall's 47%.[5]
Scott originally planned to campaign for governor of Georgia, announcing his campaign in January 2009. He made headlines for walking more than 1,000 miles around the state in his "Walk of Georgia",[6] introducing a bill to abolish tolls onGeorgia 400 and leading the charge in pressuring Georgia State Attorney GeneralThurbert Baker to file suit against the federal government over theAffordable Care Act.[7][8][9][10] In April 2010, Scott withdrew from the race for governor to run for Congress.
In 2010, Scott signed a pledge sponsored byAmericans for Prosperity promising to vote against anyglobal warming legislation that would raise taxes.[11]
During his first term, Scott represented a fairly compact district in the center of the state, from Macon toMoultrie.
Redistricting after the2010 census made the 8th somewhat more secure for Scott. Notably, a large chunk of the district's black residents were drawn into the neighboring2nd district. This included most of Macon and surroundingBibb County (except for a sliver in the north); Macon had been the heart of the 8th and its predecessors for more than a century. To make up for the loss of population, the General Assembly pushed the 8th all the way to theFlorida border, addingThomasville and most ofValdosta from the old 2nd. The old 8th already had a significant Republican lean, with aCook Partisan Voting Index of R+10. The new 8th had a CPVI of R+15, making it the 11th most Republican district in theEastern Time Zone and one of the most Republican districts in the country.
Scott was unopposed in both the primary and general elections.[12]
Scott was unopposed for a third term.
In 2016, Scott faced a Democratic opponent for the first time since his initial run for the seat, private investigator James Neal Harris. Scott defeated Harris with 67.6% of the vote, carrying every county in the district.[13]
Scott was unopposed for a fifth term.
On June 9, Scott defeated his Republican primary opponents, Vance Dean and Danny Ellyson, with 89.81% of the vote.[14] For only the second time since his initial run for the seat, he faced a Democratic challenger, Lindsay Holliday. Scott defeated Holliday with 64.52% of the vote in the November 3 general election.[15]
In 2022, Scott faced Democrat Darrius Butler and won with 68.58% of the vote.
In 2024, Scott again faced Democrat Darrius Butler and won with 68.92% of the vote.[16]
Scott was selected by his colleagues as freshman class president for the 112th Congress.[17]
Scott's district is home to twoUnited States Air Force bases:Moody Air Force Base andRobins Air Force Base. As a senior member of theHouse Armed Services Committee, Scott supports pro-military and defense spending policies.[18] He is also a proponent of theUnited States Navy hospital ships.[19]
Scott was very vocal on the United States Air Force's decision not to replace theNorthrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS, which provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Many JSTARS are based at Robins Air Force Base inWarner Robins, Georgia. While Scott supports the forthcomingAdvanced Battle Management System, or ABMS, he contends the Air Force should maintain the capabilities of the JSTARS until the new ABMS systems are in place.[20] In 2018, the Air Force announced that Robins Air Force Base would host the initial elements of the Advanced Battle Management System, a capability which will fuse global air and space intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance information.[21]
Scott opposed canceling theF-22.[20][failed verification]
As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Scott works toward combating transnational criminal organizations and the international flow of drugs.[22]
Scott served on the Conference Committees for the Fiscal Year 2018, Fiscal Year 2019, and Fiscal Year 2021National Defense Authorization Acts.[23]
For the 117th Congress, Scott is the only member from Georgia to serve on a Congressional defense committee.
Scott served on the Conference Committees for both the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills.[24]
Scott secured provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill to bring broadband investments to rural America.[25]
In August 2020,U.S. trade representativeRobert Lighthizer held two virtual hearings to examine foreign trade policies harming American growers of seasonal and perishable produce, including one with Georgia producers. These hearings were the result of years of requests by Scott and other members of Georgia's and Florida's Congressional delegations to examine the dumping of foreign-subsidized fresh fruits and vegetables into U.S. agricultural markets below the cost of production domestically.[26]
Scott unsuccessfully ran against RepresentativesRick Crawford andGlenn Thompson for Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee for the 117th Congress. Thompson, senior to Scott on the committee, was named Ranking Member by theHouse Republican Steering Committee in December 2020.[27]
On June 15, 2018, President Donald Trump signed into law the Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act (Public Law No: 115-184), a bill authored by Scott and supported in theUnited States Senate byJohnny Isakson to require the Department of the Interior to provide outer burial receptacles for veterans' remains buried in a national cemetery administered by the National Park Service.[28]
Scott and RepresentativeSanford Bishop brokered federal assistance for farmers affected by 2018 and 2019 natural disasters, including $3 billion in agricultural relief for damages from storms and reprogrammed unused funds to be used for future relief efforts. This was included in a disaster assistance package Trump signed into law in June 2019.[29]
As a member of theCongressional Sportsmen's Caucus, Scott has sponsored and supported numerous sportsmen's and conservation bills. In the 115th Congress, he introduced legislation to modernize thePittman–Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act to allow state fish and wildlife agencies to use Pittman-Robertson funds for public relations and for constructing, operating, and maintaining public ranges,[30] which passed the House during the 115th Congress.
On June 11, 2024, Scottvoted (at 6:36 in video) against including H.R.1282 -MAJ Richard Star Act in the FY 25 NDAA. This despite the fact that he is listed as a co-sponsor of thebill.
Scott announced his bid for theOctober 2023 speakership election on October 13,[31] facingJim Jordan of Ohio.[32]He was considered a close ally of House Majority LeaderSteve Scalise who had previously run for the position but withdrew after failing to consolidate the necessary votes.
He was ultimately defeated, with Scott garnering 81 votes to Jordan's 124. He subsequently endorsed Jordan for the speakership.
On October 20, Scott announced a second bid seeking the Republican nomination following Jim Jordan's failure to be elected speaker after three ballots on the House floor and to secure the party's nomination a third time subsequently.[33][34]
For the119th Congress:[35]
Scott has been a successful stock trader while serving in Congress.[42] He bought 1,000 shares of Fuel Cell Energy, Inc. (FCEL) at $2 per share on October 30, 2020, and sold some shares on December 23, 2020, at $13.42 (a 571% increase), selling the remainder on January 14, 2021, at $17.60 (a 780% increase).[43] The website Unusual Whales follows congressional stock trading and has created a page for Scott's trades.[44]
In October 2021,Business Insider reported that Scott had violated theStop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012, a federal transparency and conflict-of-interest law, by failing to properly disclose up to $165,000 worth of stock trades made by his wife inAT&T,Berkshire Hathaway,Ford Motor Co., andJohnson & Johnson.[45]
Scottopposesabortion and believes that human life begins at conception.[46]
Scott supports abalanced budget amendment.[46] He voted for theTax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.[47]
Scott has a "D" grade from marijuana legalization advocacy organization theNational Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) for his voting history regardingcannabis-related issues.[48]
Scott supports thedeath penalty.[46]
Scott opposessame-sex marriage and is in favor of aFederal Marriage Amendment.[46]
Scott opposesgun control.[46]
Following theRussian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Scott consistently supported military aid toUkraine. As of October 2023, he received an "A" grade on the congressional report card on Ukraine support byDefending Democracy Together.[49]
Scott voted for the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012 and also for the 2013 Reauthorizes the Violence Against Women Act amendment, which failed in the house. Ultimately, he voted against the 2013 renewal of theViolence Against Women Act.[50][46]He voted for the Deborah Sampson Act in 2019 which increased health care access for women veterans through theDepartment of Veterans Affairs.[51]
In December 2020, Scott was one of 126 Republican representatives to sign anamicus brief in support ofTexas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at theU.S. Supreme Court contesting the results of the2020 presidential election, in whichJoe Biden defeated[52] incumbentDonald Trump. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lackedstanding underArticle III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[53][54][55]
On January 7, 2021, Scott did not object to the Electoral College certification in the House of Representatives.[56] On January 5, 2021, he joined several Republican colleagues in sending a letter to Congressional leadership stating that members of Congress did not have the authority to object to Electoral College votes sent to them by each state absent an investigation from a state legislature or a conflicting slate of electors.[57]
Scott condemned theviolence at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.[57]
Scott attended President Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021.[citation needed]
On February 12, 2021, Scott was appointed to the congressionally mandatedCommission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America.[58]
Scott sponsored H.R. 6202, the American Tech Workforce Act of 2021, introduced by RepresentativeJim Banks. The legislation would establish a wage floor for the high-skill H-1B visa program, thereby significantly reducing employer dependence on the program. The bill would also eliminate theOptional Practical Training program that allows foreign graduates to stay and work in the United States.[59]
Austin and his wife Vivien reside inTifton, Georgia, with their three children. The Scotts are members of the First Baptist Church of Tifton.[60][61][62]
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| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromGeorgia's 8th congressional district 2011–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded by | United States representatives by seniority 89th | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| People | |
