Heidi Alexander: “reserving the right to object. I thank the distinguished Senator from Maryland for giving me this opportunity to present…”

“reserving the right to object. I thank the distinguished Senator from Maryland for giving me this opportunity to present the right way to help historically Black colleges and universities, and I intend to do that when he is finished speaking about this and explain what we can do together. Unfortunately, the bill he proposes is a shortcut the House took, which has no way to pass the Senate. It is based upon a budget gimmick and uses a method of funding that many Senators object to. It creates a new funding cliff within 23 months, and it is unnecessary because the Secretary of Education has written all of the heads of historically Black colleges and universities to say that there are sufficient funds until next September so there is no funding problem. This gives me an opportunity--which I will do in a just a moment--to suggest the right way to do it. The right way to do it is to do permanent funding of historically Black colleges and universities in a package of bills I have introduced. That package includes other legislation--which I will discuss when my time comes--which include simplifying the FAFSA. It is a bill Senator Jones and I have introduced which will help 20 million families, including almost every student at a historically Black college or minority-serving institution. The bill package also includes grants for prisoners and short-term Pell grants, and it simplifies the student aid letters. This package is ready.…”