
Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) speaks in support of the FUTURE Act on the House floor on Dec. 10.
(Image credit – C-SPAN)
Congress passed legislation
The chair of the Senate’s education policy committee, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), had blocked attempts to extend the funding for two years in favor of a permanent extension that he tied to broader updates to the Higher Education Act, which governs federal support for colleges and universities. Late last week, Alexander and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), reached an agreement to couple the funding with a provision he had long advocated to simplify the process of applying for federal student aid.
The bill has since moved quickly through floor votes in the Senate and House and now awaits the signature of President Trump, who has tweeted
Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) speaks in support of the FUTURE Act on the House floor on Dec. 10.
(Image credit – C-SPAN)
As the debate over the program’s fate came to a head, representatives of MSIs and members of Congress often drew attention to how the funding supports STEM education.
Writing to Congress in October about the potential for faculty cuts due to the lapsed authorization, Thurgood Marshall College Fund President Harry Williams stated
In a floor speech
Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee, pointed in his floor speech to the outsized role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in STEM education, saying they “make up less than 3% of colleges and universities, yet they produce almost 20% of all black graduates, half of all black professionals, and over a third of all black STEM graduates.”
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) noted that tribal colleges in his state are using funds from the program to support STEM, adding, “We also know what a large role STEM is playing in our country today, and we know that it will play an even larger role in the future.”
In a statement