Future. And the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has told us that the houses proposal will not generate sustainability of Pension Plans or the sustainability of the pbgc. So we better not spend time on something the Congressional Budget Office just isnt going to bring a solution and definitely not a longterm solution. In contrast, the proposal that senator alexander and i are releasing today addresses the immediate needs of the few multiemployer plans facing immediate crisis in a manner that protects participant benefits and also ensures a sustainable multiemployer Pension System for the long haul. And it does this all in a fiscally responsible way. Our proposal is not a giveaway to corporations or to unions, and its a better deal for the taxpayers at the same time than a future that even with a larger problem and a pbgc funding needs that will almost surely be met with a taxpayer bailout. All participants in the system would make a sacrifice. Let me make that clear. All participants in the system are going to sacrifice. Employers, unions, workers, and retirees. Im sure each one of those groups isnt going to consider this fair and responsible but with a problem like this if everybody doesnt give a little bit, its never going to be fair and responsible anyway. But with some shared pain will come significant shared gain. That will be to the benefit of over 1. 5 million participants in about 125 multiemployer plans that are in serious financial jeopardy, meaning that we cant see for sure that people are going to get the benefits that they sacrifice for a lifetime of work. And it will be to the benefit of the rest of the multiemployer plans and their participants by providing a stoarng system for the stronger system for the long haul and by providing longterm solvency of the pbgc. Senator alexander and i offer this proposal as a path forward for a multiemployer Pension System that we all know is in crisis. Now, as we turn to getting this job done, i look forward to working with my colleagues in the United States senate and in the u. S. House of representatives to advance this proposal. We all know that just because you lay something on the table that its going to pass that way so maybe theres some compromise needed. But whether its this proposal or a little bit of compromise, weve got to get this piece of legislation to the president s desk before more pension holders face losses of the benefits that theyve earned and benefits that were promised. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call a senator madam president. The presiding officer the senator from delaware. Mr. Carper i ask to vitiate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Carper thank you. I rise to talk about some of the observers call one of the best historically black colleges and universities in our country, it is Delaware State University. Home of the hornets. I was a u. S. Naval officer and got an m. B. A. At the university of delaware and i went to work at the Delaware Economic office. We were the capital of the delaware State College. Delaware State College and hbcu, not a wellfunded college, not one that had the favor of, frankly, the governor, the legislator, and for the for the most part and a bit of a stepchild and i thought wouldnt it be great to transform delaware State College into something, a stark, memorable outstanding. And later on id be elected governor, about 15 years later, and have a chance to work with a fellow who is the president of Delaware State University at the time and to transform it with the help of the general assembly, delaware State College and Delaware State University. Out of all the hbcu universities in the country, it is i think its ranked number five. I think there are 70 or 75 of them in all, and they have just reported that enrollment for the coming year will reach 5,000 students all undergraduates and graduates, and we are proud of the hornets. Last month on one of my regular visits to delaware state, i took a campus tour and from the cockpit of a single engine aircraft and we flew all over kent county north of dover. Had a chance to do some some approaches and it was a lot of fun and it was a basic reminder that delaware state provides undergraduate and graduate degree programs for all kinds of training and education occasional needs. But one of the key ones right now and one of the most interesting as a former naval flight officer is delaware state is i think the largest producer of pilots and aviational professionals of color in the country. Every one who graduates has a job waiting for them. Some are pilots, others do a variety of work available to aviation. We have 157 Million People going to work and five million have no one show up and we need one in the aviation world and delaware state is providing those. When our plane landed earlier this year at the airport just north of dover, i held a roundtable with Delaware State Universitys executive provost dr. Tony allen. We talked with administrators and students about a bipartisan bill called the future act discussed on the floor. The future act is introduced by senator jones, senator scott from South Carolina and it would provide a little over a quarter billion dollars annually to minority serving institutions including about 85 million to hbcus for an additional two years through fiscal year 2021. Almost 900,000 would go directly to Delaware State University. And you might ask, what does delaware state do with the moaning . They use the money to help support stem and Teacher Education programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels and ensure they have access to the best research schools. It helps to modernize classrooms at Delaware State University and help recruit young men of college to teach in the k12 classrooms so all students have mentors they can look up to. According to the center for National Education statistics, only 2 of teachers in the Public School system are African American, probably in excess 20 or more of the students are African American males. Think about that. Thats, a lot of those African American males havent had some of the best mentors and role models in their life growing up and we have so few teachers that are minority male. I think this is a good step for congress to take to bridge that gap and this is how we can support hbcus across the country. In Early September the house of representatives voted to reauthorize this funding through the bipartisan future act. Unfortunately the senate has not followed the lead of the house in this critical federal funding for our nations hbcus lapsed on september 30, and before i yield to senator coons, i want to say my recollection i might have this wrong. To be sitting here and tell me he had the the right numbers, 2 of the teachers in our Public Schools in america and i think in delaware are men of color, they are African American. Almost 20 , maybe 25 of the students in our Public School system are people of color and about half of those are male. And we need to do a better job. As a governor i started a mentoring program. When i was governor we had 10,000 mentors, a lot of them with people of color, a lot of them didnt have a positive male role model in their life and thats why the mentoring program is so important and thats why we especially need minority male teachers who are African American. And thats not all we need, but thats a big part of what we need. I think over half of the minority male teachers we have in our schools were educated at Delaware State University. More than half. I think senator coons has joined me on the floor. Im enormously proud of Delaware State University and the leadership they have today and in the past. Proud to have been an honorary hornet and proud to introduce senator coons who has been right from the start. The presiding officer the senator from delaware. Mr. Coons thank you. I come to the floor to join a number of my colleagues to speak on a critical lapse of funding for unhuns of colleges and universities across our nation. On september 30, 255 million in annual federal funding for historically black colleges an universities an Minority Institutions expired. Since this fund was first created, it has supported 400 hbcus and m. S. I. s, historically black colleges and universities and minorityserving institutions. Including 97 hbcus. This lapse has created harm to these organizations, the students, employ years, and the public. I wanted to join my colleagues in highlighting the importance of this funding. I want to speak specifically of the hbcu that delaware is so proud, Delaware State University. Delaware state is an engine for energy access. Delaware State University is one of the countrys top public hbcus. Its graduates go on to successful careers in all sorts of industries. Graduates from del state have become some of our states best nurses, teachers, business leaders, social workers, and senate staff. Their Research Programs are important drivers for innovation in a state with a proud history of innovation. It is home for neuroscience research, a partnership of institutions across our state working to advance our study of how brains form tawts, feelings and how they change as we age. It is home to oscar where research that is in that is in part federally funded helped to speed detection of disease and better deterring and detecting threats and equipping nasa missions. To put it simply, madam president , we are very proud of del state. D. U. S. Prowdz are so pro grads are progressive. Their commitment to equity and excellence are why we cant allow them to lose out on vitally needed federal funding. Last year this program provided 887,000 to delaware state, 20 of the title 3 funding. These funds have a direct impact on students and funds math, science and educator programs. Theres no good reason for the senate to ignore the hbcus and m. S. I. s and deny them the funding they deserve. In september the house passed a twoyear extension of this critical funding that is known as the future act. While i share, senator share senator alexanders commitment to permanently extend this fund, we must not act the institutions to put budgeting on hold while we in the senate negotiate over other pressing issues. Madam president , i urge my colleagues to pass the future act immediately. With that i would like to make a motion. Madam president , as if in legislative session, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 212, h. R. 2486, that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer is there objection . Mr. Alexander madam president , reserving the right to object. And i will object. Im disappointed that my colleagues are offering such a shortterm piece meal piecemeal approach toward resolving the problems of our historically black colleges and minorityserving institutions when i have repeatedly offered a much better idea, and they have blocked it. And i will offer it again in just a moment. I know the senator from North Carolina is here to speak on the same subject. But what i have offered, theyre offering a shortterm twoyear budget gimmicksupported idea that will have a difficult time passing the senate. What ive offered that they have blocked is permanent funding of historically black colleges and minorityserving institutions permanent funding at the level of 255 million a year, properly funded. Thats number one. An assurance from the u. S. Department of education that every single historically black institution, there are 97 of them, have enough funding to go until next october. Eep the United States senate even the United States senate ought to be able to do its job in that period of time. And at the same time, i have offered the alexanderjones bill offered by the distinguished senator from alabama which would simplify the federal aid Application Form called the fafsa for 8 million minority student 8 million minority students. So why would anybody want to take a shortterm piecemeal approach thats based on a budget gimmick that couldnt pass the senate when compared with permanent funding for historically black colleges and a bipartisan proposal to change the hated, dreaded fafsa by reducing from 108 questions to between 18 and 30, the number of questions you have to ask. This document is the single biggest impediment to minority students going to college in America Today and the democrats are blocking its passage of a bipartisan bill. Madam president , i object. The presiding officer the objection is heard. The senator from North Carolina. A senator madam president , i want to thank the chairman of the committee for objecting. Mr. Burr i want to tell my colleagues on the other side of the aisle i appreciate them being here given the passionate speeches they have because theyve made the case for senator alexanders bipartisan bill. You see incorporated in this legislation is an initiative by senator jones, senator baldwin, anybody that makes this out to be a partisan piece of legislation is just flat wrong. I have more historically black colleges in North Carolina than any state can claim. When those chancellors and president s have been presented with do you want two years or permanent, they all said permanent. They didnt know there was a permanent option. I say this to my three colleagues because none of them are on the committee. There is a permanent option for the funding for historically black colleges. Its its in the chairmans bill. Weve been told that the future act needs to be passed. The future act is two years long. Not much of a future there. We ought to match its title with the chairmans bill because this really does address the future. Number one concern of historically black institutions, predictability of funding. The chairmans bill is permanent. Were not going to come in here in two years and seek another reauthorization. But the benefit is that were passing other good legislation. Now let me point out to my colleagues because its important to read legislation, the future act is funded by whacking the funding for the state guarantee agencies. By taking away the account maintenance fees that these statebased organizations received with minister loans, were robbing peter to pay paul. These same students that are probably going to go to historically black universities are also seeking statebased loans to do it and were providing the institutions two years of predictability on one side and were taking away the fees that are needed to administrationster the loans to a administer the loans to allow them to be able to afford it. This is when its important to look at the details. The way the future act is funded actually hurts all institutions in North Carolina. Just today i heard from the North Carolina state Education Assistance authority about how important this funding is for their daily functions in administering student loans. So i believe theres a better way to extend h. B. C. Funding but also not to hurt students. At the end of the day, our focus, the human face we see is the student that benefits from the Educational Opportunity theyve been given. And i would tell you that the future act flunks on all counts. Its not permanent. It takes away from some because of how its funded. And weve got an opportunity with chairman alexanders bill, the student aid improvement act which would extend this title 3 funding permanently, but it would also include other bipartisan support changes in Higher Education. Expanding pell grants. Every member of the United States senate has sat a this floor and said oh, weve got to do something on pell grants. Here is your opportunity. It doesnt fit in the time frame of passing a bill that passed the house that provides two years of funding, but weve got bipartisan weve got a bipartisan piece of legislation. It simplifies the financial Student Financial aid process. You saw the chairman held up the form. There is nobody that can defend the continuation of that form. It should be one page. The chairman of the Education Committee has tried for now for five years to transition that to one page. So you might look at us and say, well, you know, we can do this very quickly, but we need time to talk about this. We have taken five years to do this. And the people on the committee know this. This is the sixth time youve go to the floor and asked unanimous consent to do the exact same thing. Pass this. Dont look at anything else. No. Its wrong. Its not wrong because were in the majority. Its wrong because its not serving the students who were supposed to be here setting policy for. It simplifies aid award letters to students. They actually its actually easy to tell