Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1135 reauthorizes the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Historic Preservation program. This program provides grants to revitalize and conserve historic structures at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Virginia. I am very proud and grateful of the five HBCUs we have in Virginia: Virginia State, Norfolk State, Hampton University, Virginia Union University, and Virginia University of Lynchburg. I point out that the Nation's first elected African-American Governor, Douglas L. Wilder, was a graduate of Virginia Union University. Since the program was first authorized in 1988, as Mr. Cook has said, there has been over $60 million in grants to help restore iconic structures on many of these college campuses, and two-thirds of this money appropriated has been leveraged to generate matching funds to maximize the impacts of taxpayer dollars. But despite all the progress made with respect to revitalizing these campuses, there is still a lot of work that remains to be done in all 107 HBCUs. Reauthorization and sustained support for this program is long overdue. So I would like to thank my esteemed colleague from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) for all of his hard work and relentlessness to bring this bill to the attention of Congress. I urge my colleagues to join in supporting this good bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”