Heidi Alexander: “on behalf of all of us, I want to thank the Democratic leader for his courtesy and his support on this. He and Senator…”

“on behalf of all of us, I want to thank the Democratic leader for his courtesy and his support on this. He and Senator McConnell have made it possible for us to do this. I am going to limit my remarks to a couple of minutes, and then Senator Murray and then Senator Scott, Senator Coons, Senator Jones are here, and we will finish by 10:50. Madam President, it is hard to think of a piece of legislation that would have a more lasting impact upon minority students in America than the bill that the Senate just passed. I believe, in doing so, we have improved the provision in the House bill that was sent to us. That is what we did; we amended a House bill that we are now sending back to them. We have been working with leaders in the House to make sure that our bill is something the House can accept and pass. We hope that will happen in the next couple of weeks, and here is the result of it happening: No. 1, a big step for historically Black colleges and minority institutions--permanent funding at the level of $255 million a year for those institutions that serve up to 2 million minority students. That is No. 1. The second big step is one that Senator Murray and I and our committee, Senator Jones, Senator Bennet, Senator King, and many others have been working on for 5 years to simplify the form that students use to apply for Federal aid for college.…”