Date: 2007-11-13
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I want to thank Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. ScoTT and Mr. COOPER who have worked diligently to get this legislation to the floor. And I want to thank Mr. KELLER and Mr. MCKEON on the Republican side. and our House leadership and the Republican leadership for facilitating this. The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Capital Financing Program was established by Congress in 1992 to help these schools fund capital projects to construct. rehabilitate. or renovate existing and new campus facilities. Under current law. the HBCU Capital Financing Program has a legislative cap or limit to the total amount of bonds that the Secretary of Education may guarantee to provide loans to these schools to undertake their capital projects. In dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. the Secretary exceeded. with congressional approval. the original cap that Congress imposed on the amount of bonds the- Secretary could guarantee. Given the cap on such bonds was reached during the tragic events caused by Hurricane Katrina. the program is now unable to provide any loans to other schools. The bill we are considering under suspension today will simply increase the lending authority of the Secretary and establish a new cap to ensure other HBCUs in the pipeline for consideration of such loans will receive those loans. This is a shortterm solution to the capital needs of these schools. and we will continue to address the reauthorization in the Higher Education Act the Education and Labor Committee is currently considering. So I want to thank all of those who participated in this legislation. I also want to take a moment. as we are talking about historically black colleges. to remember a pioneer that we lost this last weekend. former Congressman Gus Hawkins. who is a former Chair of the Education and Labor Committee and a member of the California delegation. He was a wonderful politician who had a great vision for this country on behalf of its students and workers. He fought every day of his public life to make their lives better in this country. He was a trailblazer in so many aspects. including advancing legislation that barred employment discrimination and increasing the minimum wage and access to colleges. I had the honor of serving on the committee while Gus was the Chair and can attest to his .passion and dedication to the issues that affect Americas students and workers. As a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus and the first African American to represent California in the Congress. he led the way for many legislators who are here today. Gus was also the author of legislation which established the. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. which continues to combat employment discrimination. Throughout his career. Gus Hawkins authored more than 300 pieces of State and Federal legislation. a feat that few can claim. After retiring. he served as director of the Hawkins Family Memorial Foundation for Education. Research and Development. where Gus continued helping many young people find a path to college. -" His voice is going to be missed. and I know my thoughts and thoughts of all of our colleagues are with the Hawkins family today. I also want to say that Gus Hawkins was a wonderful friend of my mother and father when Gus and my father served together in the California legislature where they fought many of these same fights on the State level. They were a remarkable group of people who blazed these trails for justice. economic and social justice. in this country. Gus Hawkins set the bar and the standard very high for all of us. and I think it is fitting that we are also addressing the needs of the historically black colleges here on the day. we choose to remember him and the dele- He did two tours of duty in Iraq. and gation will have an hour of remem- in 2005 he was wounded by an IED in brance and testimony to Gus and his Fallujah. He had traumatic brain ingreat accomplishments tomorrow. jury and was given up for dead. Mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance Mr. Speaker. last rites were actually of my time. given for him. But Corporal Shulz re-