James Austin Scott (born December 10, 1969) is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for Georgia's 8th congressional district since 2011.

Scott's father, Jim, is an orthopedic surgeon and his mother, Becky, is a teacher in the public school system.

In 2001, Scott was the first Republican in the Georgia House to work with Democrats to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the state's flag.

[3] With millions of dollars in campaign donations from national PACs, Scott challenged Democratic incumbent Jim Marshall in Georgia's 8th congressional district.

In 2010, Scott signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming legislation that would raise taxes.

To make up for the loss of population, the General Assembly pushed the 8th all the way to the Florida border, adding Thomasville and most of Valdosta from the old 2nd.

In 2016, Scott faced a Democratic opponent for the first time since his initial run for the seat, private investigator James Neal Harris.

As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, Scott supports pro-military and defense spending policies.

[18] Scott was very vocal on the United States Air Force's decision not to replace the Northrop Grumman E-8 Joint STARS, which provide intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

[19][failed verification] As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Scott works toward combating transnational criminal organizations and the international flow of drugs.

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.

[25] Scott unsuccessfully ran against Representatives Rick Crawford and Glenn Thompson for Ranking Member of the House Agriculture Committee for the 117th Congress.

[26] 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 the United States Senate by Johnny 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.

[31] He was considered a close ally of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise who had previously run for the position but withdrew after failing to consolidate the necessary votes.

[41] In October 2021, Business Insider reported that Scott had violated the Stop 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 in AT&T, Berkshire Hathaway, Ford Motor Co., and Johnson & Johnson.

[48] In December 2020, Scott was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated[49] incumbent Donald Trump.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

The bill would also eliminate the Optional Practical Training program that allows foreign graduates to stay and work in the United States.