Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am here today to advocate on behalf of Maryland's four Historically Black Colleges and Universities that face a funding cliff next week. Without the immediate passage of the FUTURE Act, Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore face a collective $4.2 million funding shortfall when the Higher Education Act's authorization for mandatory funding for these institutions lapses. This clean, bipartisan, 2-year reauthorization gives us breathing room to continue to negotiate the full reauthorization of the Higher Education Act without holding these historically underfunded institutions hostage. Our HBCUs and minority serving institutions know that they can count on this mandatory funding each year to strengthen their course offerings in in-demand STEM programs, make infrastructure improvements, and provide academic counseling and student support services to first generation and historically underrepresented students. This potential lapse in the authorization for mandatory funding is exacerbated by the inability of Congress to provide a fiscal year 2020 budget on time, leaving institutions in even more of a financial planning crunch. Throwing the budgets of these institutions into chaos directly harms their ability to serve their students and communities. If this mandatory authorization were to lapse, schools could not count on mandatory funds to backfill spending at a later date.…”