Congressional Hispanic Caucus Condemns Senate GOP Blocking Funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions and Minority Serving Institutions

WASHINGTON — Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, released the following statement after Senate Republicans blocked inclusion of the House-passed H.R. 2486, the FUTURE Act, in the Continuing Resolution, which would restore an urgently-needed $255 million in expired mandatory funding for Minority-Serving Institutions, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI):

"Six million students of color won't receive critical education funding they need because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Lamar Alexander would rather play politics at the expense of students and universities. These students and their schools will miss out on funding for STEM programs, academic counseling, and financial support for students in need — funding that can be the difference between millions of students of color being able to afford college or attend college at all. It's entirely unsurprising and disheartening that Republicans are using this as another opportunity to play politics with the education and future of communities of color."

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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.