Heidi Alexander: “What I will do is make my offer quickly, and then I will make my speech following the objection. Let me summarize, to…”

“What I will do is make my offer quickly, and then I will make my speech following the objection. Let me summarize, to begin with, that what has just happened is I have objected to a short-term, piecemeal extension of funding for historically Black colleges and minority-serving institutions because it is a bill that, I think, will have great difficulty passing the Senate because of the way it is not properly funded. What I am about to offer, and which I will speak on after the objection is made, is permanent funding for historically Black colleges at the level of $255 million a year--permanent funding--as opposed to short-term, piecemeal funding as part of a package of higher education legislation that has been prepared and cosponsored by 29 Senators--more Democrats than Republicans--with the principal other provision being reducing the questions in the FAFSA, the Federal aid application form, from 108 to between 18 and 30. This is a bill introduced by the Senator from Alabama, Mr. Jones, and I, which our Senate committee has been working on for 5 years. It is the single most important impediment to keeping minority students from going to college in our State--and I think most States, according to our former Governor--and it would help 8 million minority students who fill out this complicated form every year. I will speak more to that in just a minute, but that is what I am about to ask my friends on the other side to permit me to pass.…”