Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, I rise today to say just a word about Veterans Day, but then to talk about our Nation's historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions.
We will celebrate Veterans Day as a nation on Monday, so this will be an opportunity to stand as a Member of the Armed Services Committee and as a Senator from a very militarily connected State to echo the words of Senator Thune from a few minutes ago that we owe a huge debt to our veterans.
Also, November 10 is the 244th anniversary of the Marine Corps. As a father of a U.S. marine, I also want to specifically offer my congratulations to the Corps.
One of the joys of serving in the Senate and being on the Armed Services Committee from a State that has the military tradition of Virginia is the ability to meet wonderful leaders all around my commonwealth, all around the country, and all around the globe. For those serving our country, we are in their debt.
I do want to point out that we are having a debate on the floor over the Defense appropriations. The Senator from South Dakota spoke a little bit about that. I just want to lay out from the Democratic perspective what is at stake. It is not support of the military that is at stake. As an Armed Services Committee member, I am devoted to making sure we get to the right appropriations level for the Department of Defense.
What is holding this up is not one party or the other not supporting the military. What is holding this up is that Democrats do not approve of the practice that has been engaged in by President Trump of rummaging through the Defense Department's budget to come up with money for a border wall, which our military leadership says is a nonmilitary issue.
We do not believe that once Congress appropriates money for a defense budget, the President should be able to use an emergency declaration to go into the coffers of the Pentagon and cannibalize projects that affect our military families to use for the border wall. To the extent there is a dispute right now, that is what the dispute is about. It is not support for the Defense Department or not; it is whether we should allow a rummage sale in the Pentagon budget to fund a border wall.
If you are going to have a discussion about border wall funding, let's do that separately, but let's not cannibalize the Defense Department's budget to do it. FUTURE Act
Mr. President, I said that I want to talk a little bit about our historically Black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions.
Many of my colleagues have been on the floor this week talking about a bill called the FUTURE Act, which is bipartisan. It passed from the House over to the Senate, fostering undergraduate talent by unlocking resources for education. It also has bipartisan support in the Senate. I am hoping that because it has bipartisan support, we might be able to move forward with it promptly.
Congress put in place a mandatory funding stream in title III of the Higher Education Act to invest in these institutions. Historically Black colleges and universities--commonly called HBCUs--Tribal colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and other minority- serving institutions help boost educational opportunity for all students but especially for students of color. These schools serve a disproportionate number of students from low-income families, and 75 percent of the students at HBCUs and 90 percent of the students at Tribal colleges and universities are Pell grant-eligible and receive Pell grants. Combined, our minority-serving institutions serve nearly 6 million students, which is about one-quarter of all undergraduate students in the country. The $255 million in annual mandatory funding of these institutions accounts for nearly half of all Federal funding for these institutions.
Unfortunately, the mandatory funding expired more than a month ago on September 30 because of inaction by the Senate--inaction by the Senate; the House has acted--and that jeopardizes the future of these colleges, particularly the students they serve.
The FUTURE Act, which I cosponsored with Senator Doug Jones and Senator Tim Scott, extends this mandatory funding for all minority- serving institutions for 2 years. The bill is bipartisan. The bill has the support of the White House. It is fully paid for, and it is budget neutral. There are no budget gimmicks involved. Yet we are not able to take up the bill for a reason I don't understand.
Let me talk about HBCUs in Virginia because we have five: Virginia Union University, which is in my neighborhood where I live in Richmond; Virginia State University in Ettrick, south of Richmond; Hampton University in Hampton, VA; Norfolk State in Norfolk; and Virginia University of Lynchburg. These five institutions received almost $50 million in this annual mandated funding over the last 10 years.
Norfolk State University's president, Dr. Adams-Gaston, said that if the FUTURE Act is not passed, ``Norfolk State's educational programs in both teacher preparation and the STEM fields will be put at risk at a time when we are working to increase diversity in the front of our classrooms, and grow the pipeline of diverse STEM graduates to fill the jobs of the new economy.''
Virginia State University uses its funding to keep student-faculty ratios low, to provide distance education programs, to support curricular updates, faculty training, and technology enhancement, especially for social work, computer science, nursing, and education degree programs. It also uses the funds to prepare and support students to attend graduate or professional schools and to award scholarships to deserving students.
Virginia Union University is in my neighborhood. Yesterday, Jaylynn Hodges, who is a junior biology major at Union, was in the Senate. She spoke about the impact of title III funds and its impact on her own education. Jaylynn wants to pursue a career in medicine, and fortunately Virginia Union uses the funds on neuroscience and chemistry laboratories, where Jaylynn has been able to develop her technical and analytical skills.
Virginia Union also uses funding for technology resources, workforce development programs in STEM and future careers, academic support services, such as academic counseling, updates to historic buildings, and hiring faculty. Without passing the FUTURE Act, all of these programs are in serious jeopardy.
The HBCUs serve as strong economic drivers and generate significant economic returns year after year in Virginia's communities. I have also had the good fortune to be on HBCU campuses in Florida, and I know they have the same impact within their communities and with students and in the entire State as those in Virginia. The UNCF--the United Negro College Fund--found that, in Virginia alone, the direct economic impact of our five HBCUs is more than $913 million.
It is not just the impact on the Commonwealth that matters but the impact these institutions have on individual students. In one more quote, the current student body president at Norfolk State University, Linei Woodson, expressed:
Norfolk State University's supportive and culturally aware learning environment helped me to grow as a leader and put me on a path to success. I would likely not have had these opportunities at other schools. All students regardless of their socio-economic background deserve access to quality higher education and the opportunity to realize their full potential.
In closing, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which was named after the titanic civil rights leader and Supreme Court Justice--on a personal note, I was proud to have Thurgood Marshall's son John Marshall serve as my secretary of public safety when I was Governor-- wrote a letter to Senate leadership. It read that even in the week since this program expired, which was at the end of September, campuses have already notified employees that their positions and programs might be terminated as of September 30, 2020, if not sooner. In the letter, it is noted: ``These are real jobs, held by people who interact with students every day, in programs that play a critical role in graduating and retaining students in the STEM fields, among other disciplines.''
As a former Governor--and the Presiding Officer and I share that experience--I know that the budget-creating process begins well in advance of the budget's becoming effective. These minority-serving institutions, most of which do not have significant endowments, face unique fiscal challenges, and they count on this mandatory funding. Any uncertainty in the funding creates a significant planning challenge for them, and they run the risk of creating a financial nightmare for the students.
Today marks 51 days since the House passed the FUTURE Act unanimously--these days, it is hard to act unanimously on things in Congress, but this bill passed the House unanimously--and 38 days since funding lapsed for the schools in my State and for minority-serving institutions across the country. It is time for the Senate to pass the bipartisan FUTURE Act and pass it now. I urge my colleagues to join me in that endeavor.
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