Pelosi Remarks Ahead of Roundtable with HBCU Presidents and Chancellors

Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Congresswoman Alma Adams, Congressman Bobby Scott and Members of the Congressional Black Caucus to deliver remarks ahead of a roundtable with Historically Black Colleges And Universities (HBCU) Presidents and Chancellors to discuss House Democrats' HBCU legislative priorities. Below are the Leader's remarks:

Leader Pelosi. Very honored to be here with all of our colleagues and the Congressional Black Caucus, of course, is on board with all of this. I am honored to be here with Congresswoman Alma Adams and our Ranking Member Mr. [Bobby] Scott and our colleagues to welcome all of you to Washington D.C. and to commend you for the difference you have made already and recognizing much more needs to be done as we see on this beautiful card.

Just for a little background, when we passed the Affordable Care Act, we passed the Higher Education bill as well and we crossed a threshold there. We would not have been able to do that without your help. Mr. [James] Clyburn, [Congressman] John Lewis were very much a part of this, as were all the other members of the Congressional Black Caucus. But the fact is, in that bill, we went from incrementally increasing, 16 million, 20, this, that, to a very big bill close to two and a half billion dollars for minority-serving institutions, a large chunk of that for HBCUs. Again, you made that happen, so I thank you.

But again, much more needs to be done in every aspect of what we do. Whether we are talking about infrastructure, and I commend Congresswoman Alma Adams for what she is doing on her capital improvement bill, about infrastructure, about the schools, the agriculture bill and how that's a pocket we can put our hand in and very important to the mission of the HBCUs. The list goes on – whether we are talking about Pell Grants and how we can make the funding mandatory, reliable and bigger, so I'm sure we will have that discussion.

I want to acknowledge Dr. [David] Wilson because I had the privilege of speaking at Morgan State a couple years ago. I'm from Baltimore so that was a big thrill for me. Thank you Dr. [David] Wilson for your hospitality. I was at Fisk University last year and that was fun too. So I'm available, any invitations you want to extend!

[Laughter]

Because we're at a pivotal place, when we talk about infrastructure, we have to remember – labs, infrastructure attracts talent, talent attracts capital, capital attracts more infrastructure to attract more capital. So when we're going into the future with our innovation agenda with our Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Pay, Better Future. It's very important we're equipping all of our young people with tools for the jobs for the 21st century and their education is part of it.

Mr. Butterfield and I have talked in the past about when people celebrate so-and-so giving X number of dollars to Stanford or Harvard or what – that's really nice. I think they should tithe – they should give 10 percent to a minority serving institution so that it isn't just drawing the money to the same places and therefore the kids. The kids. We want the kids to go to school in a place they're comfortable, where they love the atmosphere, they love the atmosphere and all the rest but they also – we can't have an opportunity cost for them because it doesn't have the facilities that we want to have.

We have to think – you've all been thinking – government has to be thinking bigger, different, in entrepreneurial ways about how we get that money both [on the] public side, private side, philanthropic side, about how we get that money to institutions of higher learning. So again, the facilities attracts talent, attracts the capital and the cycle goes on. It's absolutely essential if we're going to have the infrastructure that works for everyone, every place in America and investing in education.

The big fight we have here is the battle of the budget and they'll say curb this spending and curb that spending in education or this or that because we have to reduce the deficit. This is a fact – nothing brings more money to the treasury than investing in education. Early childhood, K-12, higher education, lifetime learning for our workers.

So if you want to reduce the deficit, invest more in education. Don't think that tax cuts for the rich are going to have a dynamic effect and grow our economy: no. Educating our people. All of our people. And doing so in a way that equips them with the tools of the 21st century. All these things with innovation, artificial intelligence, all the rest of it. We want our kids to avail themselves of the opportunities that are there.

I thank you for the priorities that you have put here on this card and I look forward to working with you and our discussion. We'll talk more specifically about some of it. The capital improvement legislation that [Congresswoman] Alma [Adams] has put forward is so very important to all that we've just discussed.

I am honored to serve in the Congress with the Ranking Member [Bobby Scott] on the Education and Workforce Committee. He understands these issues so thoroughly.

I don't know if it is my privilege to introduce him or if I should be yielding back to [Congresswoman] Alma [Adams] but you have to know the clarity of his understanding on these issues, the way he teaches the rest of us. Not only these issues, some people think he's the best lawyer in the Congress when talking about justice and our judicial system. Any subject that you can name, whether it's our budget, whether it's the specifics of our investments in education, whether it's where we have economic justice, social justice, justice in the courts, I could talk a long time and you probably think I will about the work that he's done. Instead, I'm just going to yield to him so he can give you the benefit of his thinking.

Thank you [Congressman] Bobby [Scott].