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A PLATINUM THREAD: When President Trump launched his Platinum Plan in Atlanta, he spent a few minutes discussing HBCUs. Watch the clip, and then read the fact check. 1/
Trump claimed Obama and Biden cut funding for HBCUs in their first year. Backstory: In 2007 the Title III F program was created by the College Cost Reduction Act signed by George W. Bush. 2/
https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/2379/Overview_of_the_College_Cost_Reduction_And_Access_Act_CCRAA
https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/2379/Overview_of_the_College_Cost_Reduction_And_Access_Act_CCRAA
It was to be $85M/year for two years, but Bush tried to phase it out in the FY09 budget. 3/ https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/05/feds-giveth-and-taketh-away
President Obama’s first budget was for FY10, and he did not continue the program as it was completed. See line item for strengthening HBCUs mandatory. 4/
The HBCU community fought to keep the program going, & applied pressure on Obama to do so. So the stories about him cutting the funding more accurately should read he initially declined to extend a program that was ending. Congress did fund for FY10. 5/ https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104082329
For FY11, President Obama announced the program would be a ten year program, with $85M annually for HBCUs. Additional money would be given to other MSIs. This was the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA). 6/ https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/president-obama-signs-executive-order-promoting-excellence-innovation-and-sustainab
In 2019, President Trump did what Bush and Obama both did. His initial FY20 budget did not include the $85M annually for the Title III F program, called SAFRA under Obama. (Line g- the actual amount in FY19 was $79.7M) 7/
The Thurgood Marshall College Fund noted that “to cease providing any mandatory Title III funding… represents an approximately $80 million fiscal cliff for HBCUs.” 8/ https://www.tmcf.org/events-media/tmcf-in-the-media/thurgood-marshall-college-fund-tmcf-statement-on-president-trumps-proposed-fy2020-budget-blueprint/
Rep. Alma Adams wrote and shepherded the passing of the FUTURE Act, which replaced SAFRA. As Trump said in Atlanta, it is for 10 years, just like the Obama era program. 9/ https://uncf.org/news/a-once-in-a-generation-outcome-the-future-act-signed-by-president-becomes-law
Next he mentions 42 heads of HBCUs meeting with him annually. There are 101 HBCUs. Maybe about 60 were at the White House in 2017. The meeting was with DeVos; with him it was a photo opp. He thought it would drive numbers; it didn’t. He fired Omarosa. 10/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-race-record/2020/09/23/332b0b68-f10f-11ea-b796-2dd09962649c_story.html
So I’m not sure who he is referring to coming back annually asking for funding. HBCUs are in each of his budgets as they have been in previous president’s budgets. In fact, the Title IIIB funding goes back at least to 1987. 11/
https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/Biennial/516.html
https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/Biennial/516.html
He said he worked on it, along with Senators Perdue and Loeffler. Perdue is on record as a supporter of the Senate’s version of Adams’ bill; Loeffler was busy fighting with the WNBA. 12/ https://www.11alive.com/article/news/senators-stuck-on-hbcu-federal-funding/85-6c797c57-14c7-45cf-840f-1912f041660a
It was odd (for the 2nd or 3rd time now) hearing Trump say he gave us more than we even asked for. The FUTURE Act is $85M a year, just as it has been since FY08. 13/ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/us/politics/stem-funding-hbcus.html
The Platinum plan is really a skeletal outline, but HBCUs are mentioned and it proposes to increase the Pell Grant (which is a major priority by the HBCU community). 14/
https://cdn.donaldjtrump.com/public-files/press_assets/president-trump-platinum-plan-final-version.pdf
https://cdn.donaldjtrump.com/public-files/press_assets/president-trump-platinum-plan-final-version.pdf
I participated in a discussion on the Platinum Plan with @rolandsmartin on September 26th, and we discussed HBCUs in depth. 15/15
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