Hoyer Remarks During Fourth Annual HBCU STEAM Day of Action
WASHINGTON, DC – This afternoon, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) participated in the Fourth Annual HBCU STEAM Day of Action. Hosted by Rep. Alma Adams (NC-12), the event celebrates the important work HBCUs do to prepare students for successful careers. Congressman Hoyer is a founding Member of the Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Caucus. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery.
"I'm honored to join the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus once again to participate in its STEAM Advocacy Day. Not only are we here to celebrate the critical role that HBCUs play in education and skills training in this country, we are here today to take a close look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected these colleges and universities and what Congress can do to help.
"To help us with that, we're fortunate to have a panel of experts, which includes Dr. David Wilson, President of Morgan State University, which is the largest HBCU in my state of Maryland and one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in our country. One of the other distinguished HBCUs in Maryland, which is also our oldest, is Bowie State University, and I am proud to represent it in my district.
"As a result of COVID-19, colleges and universities across the country have had to adapt to remote and hybrid learning. Virus outbreaks have intermittently shut down campuses and disrupted classes. For HBCUs, the pandemic hit particularly hard. Some saw as high as a 20% decline in enrollment for the fall 2020 term. While 10% of colleges and universities overall have gone virtual for this semester, 23% of HBCUs have done so. However, a third of African-American households in the country do not have access to high-speed internet.
"Thankfully, Congress took big and bold action this week to address this challenge, approving President Biden's ‘American rescue plan,' which provides $40 billion for colleges and universities to help make up for lost revenue. Included in that funding is $3 billion set aside specifically for HBCUs, tribal colleges and universities, as well as minority-serving institutions.
"With that major step now having been taken, the challenge today is to identify what additional resources HBCUs need from the federal government to ensure that they can continue filling a very important need in America's higher-education landscape. And I am committed to working with the Congressional Bipartisan HBCU Caucus to ensure that Congress prioritizes those resources as part of our effort to help colleges and universities build back better from this pandemic and continue preparing their students for success in our economy.
"Already, minorities are under-represented in STEAM fields, which are ‘science, technology, engineering, art and design, and mathematics.' We need to do everything possible to ensure that COVID-19 doesn't broaden that gap. We must continue working to close it. Passing the Future Act and getting it signed into law last Congress was a major step forward toward that goal. We cannot let that progress be derailed as a result of the pandemic.
"So, I want to thank Reps. Adams, Sewell, and Hill for their bipartisan leadership on this issue, and I look forward to continuing to work with them and with you to make certain that HBCUs always have strong support in Congress."