Sen. Doug Jones and Sen. Jon Tester are making a renewed push for the U.S. Senate to pass the Fostering Undergraduate Talent by Unlocking Resources for Education (FUTURE) Act, bipartisan legislation – introduced by Jones and Sen. Tim Scott – to renew mandatory federal funds to minority serving institutions for two years. The funds expired on Sept. 30.
Jones and Tester led a group of 36 senators in writing a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in support of the legislation on Monday. Jones then convened a Wednesday press conference with fellow senators and minority serving institution leaders after the bill suffered another stalled vote, calling on the Senate to pass the legislation, which reauthorizes $255 million in federal funding.
Speakers included Schumer, Senators Tester, Patty Murray, Ben Cardin, Mark Warner, Chris Van Hollen and Bob Menendez, as well as representatives from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the United Negro College Fund, the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, Bowie State University, Virginia Union University, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities and the American Indian Higher Education Consortium.
In a letter, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos assured HBCU leaders that their institutions will continue to have the federal funds through next year, even though their expiration date passed. But Jones emphasized that schools remain in limbo about how to budget for the future, given these funds account for nearly half of federal funding for HBCUs.
“Every day that passes without renewal, these schools are one day closer to having to make very tough decisions that could do permanent damage, including laying off staff, letting contracts expire, winding down programs that serve students in STEM and other fields,” Jones said.
While the FUTURE Act already passed the U.S. House of Representatives, the legislation remains mired in the Senate after Senate Education Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee tried to attach the funding to a broader set of higher education proposals, postponing a vote. On Tuesday, Alexander objected to a fourth attempt by Senate Democrats to pass the FUTURE Act on its own, a move Schumer criticized.
“These institutions are ladders up,” Schumer said. “So many people living in poorer areas, in rural areas, don’t have many ladders. This is one of them. And that’s what America is all about, providing ladders up. How dare a senator – any senator – hold these young people who are awaiting these ladders hostage.”
