PolitiFact - HBCUs likely to get smaller boost in federal funds, but that isn’t a $30 billion cut
Viral image
stated on October 4, 2021 in an Instagram post:
Says President Joe Biden cut “$30 billion to Black colleges and universities.”
A graduation ceremony on May 15, 2021, at Jackson State University in Mississippi, an HBCU, awarded diplomas to members of the Class of 1970. The 1970 ceremony was canceled after white law enforcement officers killed 2 people during a campus protest. (AP)
By
Tom KertscherOctober 7, 2021
HBCUs likely to get smaller boost in federal funds, but that isn’t a $30 billion cut
IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT
- As part of his initial $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal, Biden included $45 billion in new funding for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other higher education institutions that serve minorities.
- The latest news reports indicate that Biden’s proposed $45 billion for HBCUs could be reduced by congressional Democrats to $2 billion. But even if the amount is reduced, it would be an increase, not a cut, in funding for HCBUs.
See the sources for this fact-check
Amid tense federal budget negotiations among Democrats, social media posts made a false claim that President Joe Biden cut funding for historically Black colleges and universities by $30 billion.
"Biden Breaks Promise, Cuts $30B to Black Colleges & Universities," read the headline on a video that is shared to an Instagram
post.
Another Instagram
post also made the $30 billion claim about what are known as HBCUs.
The posts were flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our
partnership with Facebook.)
It’s not clear how the claim arrives at $30 billion, but the suggestion that the HBCUs are receiving funding cuts is wrong.
"It’s a lie," tweeted Walter Kimbrough, president of Dillard University in New Orleans, an HBCU.
Biden
proposed a $3.5 trillion spending plan, sometimes referred to as the budget
reconciliation bill, now being debated by Democrats in Congress. It included
$45 billion in new funding for HCBUs and other minority-serving
institutions to update their research programs, create incubators to help students innovate and help traditionally underserved populations.
FEATURED FACT-CHECK
Facebook posts
stated on September 14, 2021 in a Facebook post
"The top 1% pays 90% of income taxes.”
By Tom Kertscher • September 14, 2021
The Associated Press
reported on Oct. 5 that the latest iteration of the reconciliation bill includes only $2 billion that can go toward educational programs and infrastructure for Black colleges, and even that amount would be reduced to competitive grant funding rather than direct allocations.
No final decisions have been made on the bill, but as it stands,
HBCUs stand to gain funding, not experience a cut, said Kevin Miller, associate director for higher education at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
"It is not a cut. It will be an increase of $2 billion instead of $45 billion," said Harry Williams, president & CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which advocates for HBCUs. "It’s not a cut, because you can’t cut what we’ve never had."
He also noted that it remains unclear whether the $2 billion, if that ultimately is what is approved, will be set aside for HBCUs, or shared among HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions.
Responsibility for how much HBCUs ultimately get rests with Democrats in the Congress, which must agree on a final bill, although Biden would have to sign it into law.
"President proposes, Congress disposes," said G. William Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
We rate the post False.
