Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I am on the Senate floor now, where in a moment I will be asking for unanimous consent for the Senate to take up and vote on a House-passed bill that would provide full mandatory funding for historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions. The reason I am here is that the authority for this mandatory spending expired 24 days ago, and we have it within our power right now to remedy that situation. We can take up a vote on what is called the FUTURE Act. We have a bipartisan Senate bill that is championed by Senators Jones and Scott, and we have before us at the desk a bill passed by the House of Representatives by voice vote, which passed unanimously by the House of Representatives. Without the passage of this bill, the FUTURE Act, our Nation's historically Black colleges and universities will lose $85 million a year in critical funding aimed at bolstering their resources, improving their management, and enhancing their academic programs. In my home State of Maryland, we have four terrific HBCUs--Bowie State, Coppin, Morgan State, and University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Collectively, they stand to lose over $4 million a year, which they need for things like classroom upgrades, experiential learning opportunities, and services for supporting students and helping them stay in school. I realize there are some who say that since we just enacted fiscal year 2019 funding, there is no urgency to take up and pass this bill now.…”