Political Quotes

“I rise today to urge immediate passage of the bipartisan FUTURE Act, which is H.R. 2486, to restore critical funding for historically Black colleges and universities, known by the acronym here in Washington as HBCUs, as well as minority-serving institutions, so-called MSIs. The $255 million in funding that HBCUs and MSIs rely on lapsed on September 30 of this year. Both the historically Black colleges and universities and the minority-serving institutions are underresourced and don't have the flexibility to operate in the red in the hopes of potential reimbursement later on. Campuses are already feeling this impact. Just 2 weeks after this program expired, some campuses notified employees that their positions and programs may be terminated. We are talking about real people losing their jobs and programs being cut that play a critical role in graduating and retaining students in the STEM field--science, technology, engineering, and math fields. All of this is impacting students across the country. Presidents of some of these institutions have told us that planning has ``all but stopped.'' This funding lapse is urgent, and it must be addressed now.…”