On Tuesday, Senator Reverend Warnock sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy urging swift passage of the America COMPETES Act, and requesting the House bill include robust funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to build out their educational and research capacities with funding at the same levels as the Senate’s companion legislation: $750 million over the next five years
At the Senator’s urging, an amendment introduced by Congresswoman Alma Adams (NC-12) which funds the expansion of HBCUs and MSIs educational and research capacities at $1.2 billion over the next five years, was included as an amendment to the final legislation
Senator Reverend Warnock has previously secured hundreds of millions of dollars for Georgia’s HBCUs
Senator Reverend Warnock: “Until we fully include students at HBCUs and MSIs in our workforce development efforts, we are failing to develop the most qualified, innovative, and entrepreneurial workforce”
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) secured a key victory for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to build their institutional research capacity. The House of Representatives passed the America COMPETES Act earlier today, including a key amendment introduced by Congresswoman Adams, which funds these programs at $1.2 billion over five years. The amendment was added to the En Bloc amendments following the Senator’s letter to House leadership urging $750 million in funding for these programs over five years. This critical funding will help create jobs by enabling these institutions to hire new administrative staff, train faculty on the grant process, and increase their ability to move products to the market, either on their own or through industry partnerships.
“This vital jobs and competition legislation is about making sure America keeps its competitive edge,” said Senator Reverend Warnock. “The 20th century was the America century, the 21st century can and should not be any different, but that requires investment in the workforce of the future. So, I’m proud that a provision I authored to expand HBCUs and MSIs research and educational capacities is completely funded in the America COMPETES Act. Until we fully include students at HBCUs and MSIs in our workforce development efforts, we are failing to develop the most qualified, innovative, and entrepreneurial workforce. I’m deeply grateful to my friend, Congresswoman Adams, for her work to fund these programs, and for her decades of service supporting HBCUs and MSIs.”
A report from the National Science Foundation found that just 30 institutions account for 42% of all R&D spending by colleges and universities across America. None of these 30 institutions were HBCUs or MSIs. In recent years, Georgia higher education institutions received a total of $1.18 billion in federal funding for science and engineering activities, but only $39.8 million of that funding went to HBCUs located in Georgia, which only represents 3.38 percent of total Federal funds obligated to the state for science and engineering. [Source, Source].
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