Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Veasey) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Demings) for conducting this Special Order this evening. I appreciate it.

Yes, I am a graduate of South Carolina State University, but I also represent the University of South Carolina here in this body. And I just want to note that--with all that is going on around us, I want to say congratulations to the men of the University of South Carolina's basketball team for getting into the Final Four, and I am looking forward to, a few moments from now, watching the women do the same.

I met, along with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, last week with President Trump, and we had an opportunity to share with him some of the fears that we have of his budget and what it would do to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

As both the gentleman and gentlewoman have mentioned, I represent seven of these institutions. I said to the President that there is something that most people miss about the value of these colleges and universities; and I shared with him a little experience I had last December.

While kicking off the annual Christmas festivities, I was having a conversation with a very good friend, who I have known for a long time, who is an outstanding cardiologist, recently retired from Charlotte, North Carolina, and we were talking about all the discussions that were taking place during last year's campaign about HBCUs.

Of course, I said to him that I thought that there was significant misunderstanding about the value of these institutions. In fact, I wrote an op-ed piece a few days ago, published in the Charleston, South Carolina newspapers. I talked about a State official, an elected official in my State who made the comment that those students who went to South Carolina State, like yours truly, did so because they were not qualified to go anywhere else.

Well, this gentleman, David Dowdy--I hope he doesn't mind me calling his name--David Dowdy said to me, as we talked: You know, when I left that little, rural, underfunded high school in Eastover, North Carolina, and got up to North Carolina A&T, I had to take remedial everything--simply because he went to an underfunded rural school.

In South Carolina, of course, these schools have been underfunded for generations, and the State has been fighting a lawsuit for some 24 years to keep from funding these schools properly and adequately.

He said, when he got up to North Carolina A&T, he had to take these remedial courses, but he went on to become a very successful heart doctor.

Now, I said to the President, after telling him this story: That is not an unusual case.

All of us have heard of the astronaut, Ronald McNair. Ronald McNair is also a South Carolinian. He graduated from a little high school in Lake City, South Carolina, a town most people never heard of.

Everybody talks about how successful he was as an astronaut, having lost his life in the accident, the Challenger. And when people refer to him, they always talk about him being a physicist from MIT. They never talk about the fact that, before he ever went to MIT for his master's degree, he went to North Carolina A&T for his bachelor's. It was there at North Carolina A&T where he was nurtured, and how he developed in those small classes, the remediation that he needed in order to unlock all that was within him.

So I shared with the President, and he assured me that he had no intentions of cutting funding to these Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I applaud him for that, and I thank him for that.

But I also said to him that I think it is important for us not to just maintain level funding but to make the kind of investments in these colleges and universities that are needed for them to get these young minds that have been disadvantaged, because of State action, and help turn them into productive citizens who will make significant contributions to our society.

Now, I want to talk, just a moment though, about another part of the President's budget. You know, I served on three budget committees recently. In fact, I was on Vice President Joseph Biden's bipartisan group for deficit reduction. I also served on the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that everybody called the supercommittee.

And then I served on the budget committees that negotiated the Budget Control Act of 2011, an enactment I am not all that proud of, because we put in this thing we now call sequestration, which has wreaked havoc on military installations and military spending, as well as discretionary programs of the government.

Now, the hallmark of each successful budget agreement has been to increase defense spending by the same amount as spending for nondefense discretionary agencies. President Trump's proposed budget ignores this principle and would destroy many critical programs throughout all of the nondefense Federal agencies.

In 2016, the bipartisan budget agreement added $25 billion in defense spending above the sequester levels. Importantly though, it paid for this increase with responsible revenue-raising provisions and also increased the nondefense side of the budget by $25 billion as well.

For 2017, it is a similar story, where defense and nondefense are increased by $15 billion, both paid for responsibly. President Trump proposes to go far beyond these agreements, proposing for 2018, $54 billion in increased defense spending, and he pays for it by cutting the nondefense side of the budget by a corresponding $54 billion next year.

Mr. Speaker, there is a responsible way to provide our military relief from sequestration. I support doing so, as do my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus. This is not the way to do it.

Much of the proposed investments will go to draconian immigration enforcement and an ineffective border wall. The President even has the audacity to propose ignoring the budget agreement for 2017, that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama over 2 years ago.

What exactly does proposing $54 billion below sequester level caps for the nondefense side of the budget mean? What effect would it have on our constituents? The President's budget decimates funding for critical infrastructure in low-income communities, I dare say, rural communities.

For example, the President proposes to eliminate $500 million in funding for the rural water and wastewater program in the Department of Agriculture. In my congressional district alone, this agency has funded drinking water infrastructure in poor, rural communities like Turbeville, Bowman, and Brittons Neck, that had previously limited access to clean water.

The President also proposes to eliminate the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER grants, which invest in road, rail, transit, and port projects on a competitive basis all around the country.

In South Carolina, TIGER grants have funded the I-95/301 interchange in rural Santee, Main Street revitalization in Columbia, and upgrades at the Port of Charleston to the tune of more than $32 million. The resulting economic and community development have proved to be well worth the Federal investment.

The President's proposal would also eliminate the Legal Services Corporation and LIHEAP. That is the program for low income home energy assistance that allows homes to be weatherized, and Meals on Wheels. This can only be seen as an attack on the poor and the elderly.

These cuts would leave thousands of poor senior citizens unable to heat their homes in the winter and deny thousands more legal aid they need to seek relief from domestic violence and avoid homelessness by staying in their homes.

The notion that Meals on Wheels doesn't produce results is totally ridiculous. In my district, Senior Resources in Columbia currently serves more than 500 seniors.

Mr. Speaker, Federal funding accounts for 37 percent of their budget. Cutting those funds would callously kick 180 homebound seniors to the curb, forcing them to join the already 130 people who are on the waiting list. These are unconscionable cuts made with no regard for the most vulnerable in our society.

The Congressional Black Caucus budget will take the opposite approach. By repealing sequestration, making the Tax Code fairer to increase the level of investment in critical programs, and targeting Federal funds to communities mired in persistent poverty through the 10-20-30 formula, the CBC's budget responsibly funds our military, while also lifting millions out of poverty.

I want to close by thanking the gentleman from Virginia, Congressman Bobby Scott, my friend and classmate, for pulling that budget together, and doing so showing the kind of compassion that ought to exist in every public servant.

Mr. Speaker, I rise as dean of the South Carolina congressional delegation to recognize and honor the South Carolina Washington Semester Program for 25 years of offering outstanding young people from South Carolina colleges and universities the opportunity to come to Washington, D.C. to learn and serve. Each office in the delegation has benefitted from involvement with these students, who work for us in internships during the business day and earn college credits at night. The program was founded to ensure that South Carolina congressional offices had access to talented South Carolina students. These students have proven to be some of the brightest and most engaged to ever serve in our offices over the past quarter century.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me and for the work she does with this Special Order. And I thank my friend from Texas (Mr. Veasey), for allowing me to participate.

Mr. Speaker, thanks to the scholarship of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, and the perseverance of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, we continue to lift up the contributions of and achievements of Black Americans.

The celebration of Black History Month has its roots in Black History Week, established back in 1926; and because of the urgings of Carter G. Woodson, the week was selected to be the second week of February in order to embrace the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.

Now, later, in fact, in 1969, students at Kent State University, after having experienced some turmoil on their campus back in 1968, as it took place on campuses in other places across the country--Jackson State in Mississippi, South Carolina State in South Carolina--students at Kent State decided, as a part of their redress, to expand the week to a month. So they, in 1970, celebrated what they called Black History Month.

Now, 6 years later, President Gerald Ford signed legislation creating Black History Month. When he signed that legislation, he said it was to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans.

The Association for the Study of African American Life and History is entrusted with the celebration every year, and it falls upon them to select a theme for each year. This year they have selected the theme which I think is very timely, ``The Crisis in Black Education.'' Having started my professional career as a public school teacher, I totally embrace this particular topic for this year.

Throughout our history, especially post-Civil War history, there has always been a focus on Black education. As we all know, slaves were not allowed to be educated, and, as a result, when the Civil War came to a close, there was this big push to get the former slaves educated.

One of the leaders of that push was one of my heroes, Robert Smalls. Robert Smalls, though he was not allowed to be educated himself because he was born into slavery, used his God-given intellect to study the currents of the Charleston Harbor and to study the whistles that were used on the ship that he was working on as a slave. He decided that he could, at some point, find his way to freedom.

Because he learned those currents so well, and because he became very proficient at studying the sounds of the whistles on the ships, one night, when the opportunity presented itself, he absconded The Planter that he was working on, navigated the waters out of the Charleston Harbor, picked up his wife and friends, and sailed them into freedom. And when he delivered that ship to the Union soldiers, he was rewarded with his freedom and a cash award.

Robert Smalls, after the war, went back to Beaufort and, in 1867, founded a school to educate the newly freed slaves. He also participated as a delegate to the 1868 South Carolina Constitutional Convention, and in that Convention, he authored and got passed a resolution that created the first free public schools for all in America.

He turned his wealth--or his financial reward into great wealth. And also, he became a very, I would say, successful politician. He served 10 years in the South Carolina Legislature and a total of 10 years here in this House of Representatives.

While he was participating in politics, Robert Smalls authored a piece of legislation that created what is now South Carolina State University. Therein lies a part of my presentation I would like to concentrate on tonight.

When South Carolina State University was created--I want to first get people to understand, there are more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the country. Now, there is a difference between--we commonly call them HBCUs. There is a difference between an HBCU and what we call an MSI, a Minority Serving Institution. All HBCUs are MSIs, but not all MSIs are HBCUs, simply because the definition means that you must have been in existence before 1964.

We have had a lot of Minority Serving Institutions that have been created since 1964; to name just a few, Malcolm X College, Medgar Evers College. These are all Minority Serving Institutions. There are a lot of Hispanic Serving Institutions, but they are not necessarily HBCUs.

The reason I point this out, because here in this Congress, in this body, currently, 19 members of the Congressional Black Caucus are graduates of HBCUs. Now, the reason I point this out is because I think it is necessary for us to understand the role that these colleges and universities play in our society.

I often spend a lot of time with friends, many of whom are graduates of HBCUs, and I knew Astronaut Ronald McNair very well. I have a good friend, a cardiologist, recently retired, David Dowdy. I also have a friend, a California businesswoman who I interact with quite a bit, Janice Howroyd. All three of these people graduated from North Carolina A&T State University.

I have talked a lot with another former Member, Carrie Meek, a former Member of Congress; her son, Kendrick Meek; former Congresswoman Corrine Brown; and the chairman of the board of Microsoft, John Thompson. All four of these individuals are graduates of Florida A&M University, an HBCU. These are people who have made significant and are making significant contributions in our thrust toward a more perfect union.

I came before this body several times the week before last highlighting some of the HBCUs that are in my congressional district. Of the more than 100 in the country, 8 of them are in South Carolina. Seven are in my congressional district. I talked about six of them when I came before this body before. Tonight I want to close out my discussion of these HBCUs by talking about two of them, Claflin University and South Carolina State University, both located adjacent to each other in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Now, Claflin University was founded in 1869, by Methodist missionaries to provide education for newly freed slaves in order to prepare them for full citizenship. The university was named for William Claflin, then-Governor of Massachusetts, and his father, Lee Claflin, both prominent abolitionists and Methodists. They provided a large portion of the funds needed to purchase the land for the campus. Claflin is the oldest Historically Black College in South Carolina. In its beginning, it had a law school which was headed by former South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright, the first African American to serve on South Carolina's highest court.

In 1948, under the leadership of its first alumnus to serve as president, Dr. John Seabrook, Claflin was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It has always featured a strong music program, and the Claflin University collegiate choir performed at the 1965 World's Fair in New York. Claflin graduate and Kingstree, South Carolina native, Dr. Henry Tisdale has served as the university's president since 1994. Under his leadership, Claflin has thrived and grown to new heights. He has built Claflin to an enrollment of almost 2,000 students and consistently seen it ranked in the top 10 nationally for HBCUs. In 1999, through funds from the HBCU Historic Preservation program by this body, the historic Ministers' Hall was restored.

The auditorium at Ministers' Hall was named for former Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney, one of Claflin's most notable graduates. Finney graduated from South Carolina State's law school and would go on to serve on the South Carolina Supreme Court from 1985 through 2000, including 6 years as Chief Justice. Early in his career, Ernest Finney represented the Friendship 9, a group of Rock Hill students who were jailed in 1961 for a sit-in in McCrory's lunch counter. In 2015, Finney represented the surviving eight members of this group to see their convictions overturned--54 years after they were originally prosecuted.

Claflin is still affiliated with the United Methodist Church and offers multiple master's degrees, as well as a highly regarded honors program. For 148 years, Claflin has been a beacon of

hope and a place of refuge for those who desired a quality education regardless of race and/or gender.

Mr. Speaker, the final HBCU in this series is my alma mater, South Carolina State University. South Carolina State University has its roots in the Morrill Acts, the first of which was passed by Congress in 1862. The Morrill Act of 1862 created land grant colleges, a system of agriculture, science, and engineering and military science schools. One of the schools established under this law was Clemson University. But after Reconstruction ended, Southern States refused to admit African Americans to these institutions; consequently, Congress passed a second Morrill Act in 1890, which stipulated that Blacks must be included in the land grant system. Southern States had the choice to either admit Blacks to the 1862 institutions or create new land grant institutions which would be open to Blacks.

In South Carolina, by the 1890s, White supremacists had gained total control over State government. Though the State was still majority African American, through illegal and violent intimidation, extreme voter suppression, and outright fraud, Benjamin Tillman was elected Governor in 1890. The Constitutional Convention of 1895 subsequently codified White supremacy and the disenfranchisement of African Americans into the State's system of governance. When the United States Supreme Court sanctioned segregation the following year in Plessy v. Ferguson, segregation was firmly the law of the land.

This was the context for the founding, in 1896, of the Colored Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College of South Carolina, as South Carolina State was originally named. The State of South Carolina continued to resist but relented when land was acquired from Claflin University, and the campus of what is now known as South Carolina State University was born. It continues to be the only publicly supported HBCU in South Carolina.

Now, I know, Mr. Speaker, that I have consumed a lot of time, and I don't want to take all of the time from my colleagues, so let me just close by saying this: South Carolina State's first president was a man named Thomas E. Miller who served as a Member of this body. Thomas Miller guided the school for several years. Notable graduates of this institution are folks like Dr. Benjamin Mays, the noted president of Morehouse College.

South Carolina State has a reputation as producing more African- American general officers than any other school in this country. I entered South Carolina State in 1957, and, of course, I was there during the turbulent sixties. It was my great honor to help organize the first sit-in in South Carolina. You talk about grassroots. That took place on March 15, 1960. Now, I was jailed as a result of that sit-in, but it just so happens that sometimes good things can come out of jail. While I was there, a young lady came to bring food. I was so grateful for that hamburger she gave me, I married her 18 months later, and if all goes well, come June 24, she and I will celebrate our 56th wedding anniversary.

Now, when all of these cases took place growing out of these demonstrations and sit-ins, one stands out which I will close with. I mentioned Kent State in 1968, Jackson State, and South Carolina State. A lot of people have heard of Kent State. Few people know about the deaths of three students and the injuries of 27 others in an incident called the Orangeburg massacre that took place in 1968, all over the integration of a bowling alley.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to close my comments by thanking the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands for giving me this opportunity and the gentleman from Texas and thank them very much for highlighting Black History Month.

Mr. Speaker, it is impossible for me to really share the real impact that schools like Claflin, South Carolina State, and the over 100 other HBCUs have had on our great country. But, as I conclude our observance of Black History Month, I salute all of them and thank them for the indelible mark that they have made on the fabric of our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, as part of the observation of Black History Month, to continue my series of remarks recognizing HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I am asking my colleagues to join me in celebrating Clinton College, in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and Morris College, in my hometown of Sumter.

Clinton College was founded in 1894 by the A.M.E. Zion Church, under the leadership of Presiding Elder Nero A. Crockett and Reverend W.M. Robinson to combat illiteracy of former slaves. The institution was named for Bishop Caleb Clinton, then the presiding bishop of the Palmetto Annual Conference of the A.M.E. Zion Church. Originally named Clinton Institute, in 1909, it was renamed Clinton Normal and Industrial Institute, and was authorized to grant State teaching certificates.

In the late 1940s, the school was again reorganized as Clinton Junior College, offering various associate degrees in religion and other liberal arts. Still affiliated with the A.M.E. Zion Church, the college has grown and expanded under its current president, Dr. Elaine J. Copeland, who has led the institution since 2002.

In 2013, the college, for the first time, was accredited to offer two bachelor's degree programs, a bachelor of arts in religious studies, and a bachelor of science in business administration. Subsequently, it has changed its name to Clinton College, and enrollment is at a 15-year high.

For the past 120 years, Clinton College has been providing academic excellence, as well as instilling moral and spiritual growth into their students. The college takes pride in being, and I quote its motto, ``A Beacon of Light for Today's Scholars and Tomorrow's Leaders.''

I thank all of my colleagues for joining me in honoring Clinton College today.

Morris College was established in my hometown of Sumter, South Carolina, by the Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention of South Carolina in 1908, to provide religious and educational training to African Americans. Originally, the college featured elementary and high school education, as well as a college curriculum. Its college offered teaching certificates and degrees in liberal arts and theology. In the 1930s and 1940s, Morris dropped its elementary and high school programs and became solely a liberal arts and religious college.

Morris' graduates include First Lieutenant Leroy Bowman, who was part of the original class of Tuskegee Airmen. These African-American pilots trained in a segregated complex near Tuskegee, Alabama, and the Walterboro Army Air Field in Colleton County, South Carolina.

First Lieutenant Bowman served in World War II, flew 36 combat missions over Germany, and had a decorated service record. He was among 300 surviving Tuskegee Airmen honored with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2007 by President George W. Bush.

My mother graduated from Morris College in 1953, when I was 12 years old. My father studied theology at Morris in the early 1940s for 3 years, but was not allowed to finish his studies because he had not graduated high school. Having been born in 1897, in segregated South Carolina, he was not

allowed to advance beyond the seventh grade. But because he continued to self-teach and study, he was able to pass the college entrance exam. Though he was not allowed to graduate in 1945, as he should have, he was posthumously awarded his bachelor of theology degree 58 years later, in 2003.

Having been led by Dr. Luns Richardson for the past 43 years, Morris College has grown to an enrollment over 1,000. Under President Richardson, Morris has established an Army ROTC unit, joined the United Negro College Fund, and has constructed 18 new campus buildings.

Reverend Dr. Charles Jackson, president and chairman of Morris' board of trustees, recently announced that President Richardson will retire this summer, leaving Morris well-poised for the future.

I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Clinton and Morris Colleges in celebration of Black History Month.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to continue honoring HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, for their significant contributions to our Nation's history.

While only 3 percent of our Nation's higher education institutions are Historically Black, HBCUs produce 20 percent of the African- American college graduates. Today, I recognize and celebrate two of the seven HBCUs in my congressional district, Voorhees College and Denmark Technical College, both in Denmark, South Carolina.

Voorhees College was founded as Denmark Industrial School in 1897 by Elizabeth Evelyn Wright when she was just 23 years old. Wright studied at Tuskegee Institute and was a devotee of Booker T. Washington. She had previously led efforts to start schools for African Americans in South Carolina, which were always met with arson and threats of violence. She persisted in her efforts to offer African Americans an opportunity for a better life and, with Voorhees, created an institution that would stand the test of time.

Wright originally taught classes in an old store in Denmark, but, in 1902, New Jersey philanthropist Ralph Voorhees donated money to purchase land and construct a building for the school. A high school at first, Voorhees offered classes at this level for African Americans in the area.

In 1924, the Episcopal Church partnered with Voorhees, and an affiliation with that church continues to this day. The college began to offer junior college degrees in 1947 and 4-year degrees in 1962. While originally founded on the principles of Booker T. Washington to teach job and trade skills to African Americans, Voorhees now proudly claims to offer a blend of Washington's philosophy and that of W. E. B. Du Bois, who believed a classical liberal arts education was vital to the development of African Americans.

The college's recently retired president, Dr. Cleveland Sellers, is a Denmark native who graduated from Voorhees High School. Sellers went on to Howard University, where he became active with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, participating in its 1966 March against Fear.

In 1968, after returning to South Carolina, Sellers was arrested and imprisoned for supposedly inciting the confrontation between students and police that became known as the Orangeburg massacre, when police opened fire on students, killing 3 and injuring 27.

Voorhees' College's new president, Dr. W. Franklin Evans, previously served as interim president of my alma mater, South Carolina State. In that role, he successfully led South Carolina State out of a financial crisis. I sincerely believe that Voorhees College is well-positioned for the future with Dr. Evans at its helm.

Denmark Technical College, whose campus is adjacent to Voorhees, was originally a branch of the South Carolina Trade School System. It was created in 1948 by the South Carolina General Assembly and mandated to provide trade skills to African Americans. During the ``separate but equal'' era, Denmark Tech was one of the few opportunities for trade school education offered to African Americans by the State.

In the early 1960s, Governor Fritz Hollings and then-Senator John West led the effort to create the South Carolina Technical College System. In 1969, the existing trade school in Denmark was transferred into the system and the modern Denmark Technical College was created. Its total enrollment is approximately 2,000, 96 percent of whom are minority students. Denmark Tech continues to provide technical education and trade skills in its assigned region of Bamberg, Barnwell, and Allendale Counties.

Voorhees College and Denmark Technical College, like their fellow HBCUs, have made an indelible impact on their communities, South Carolina, and the Nation. They have provided generations of African Americans educational opportunities, and I look forward to their continued success.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Congressman Veasey, from the great State of Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as part of the observation of Black History Month to continue my series of remarks recognizing HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina.

Founded in 1870, just 5 years after the end of the Civil War, by the American Baptist Home Mission Society, Benedict was originally named Benedict Institute, after Stephen and Bathsheba Benedict of Rhode Island, Baptist abolitionists who had donated the funds to acquire the property on which the campus sits. Formerly the site of a pre-Civil War plantation, the first classes were held in a dilapidated mansion on the grounds. Benedict Institute was formerly chartered by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1894 and renamed Benedict College.

From its founding through 1930, Benedict was led by northern White Baptist ministers. In 1930, Reverend John Starks, an alumnus of Benedict, became the school's first African-American president. The heart of its campus has been designated the Benedict College Historic District, consisting of Morgan Hall, Pratt Hall, Duckett Hall, Antisdel Chapel, and Starks Center.

Like Allen University, its neighbor, Benedict College has a long legacy of activism for civil rights and social justice. One of the very first civil rights campaigns in South Carolina was organized at Benedict College in 1937. Students participating in a national NAACP campaign led a demonstration in support of antilynching legislation pending in Congress.

One of Benedict's early graduates was Reverend Richard Carroll. Born into slavery in Barnwell, South Carolina, Reverend Carroll was a prominent Baptist minister in the late 1800s who received honors and appointments from both President William McKinley and President Theodore Roosevelt. Other prominent alumni include Modjeska Simkins, a prominent civil rights and public health champion; General Matthew Zimmerman, who served as Chief of Chaplains of the United States Army; and I.S. Leevy Johnson, the first African-American president of the South Carolina State Bar Association.

In the modern era, under the leadership of President David Swinton, Benedict has grown to a student body of more than 2,800 undergraduate students. In 1995, Swinton revived the football program and marching band 30 years after they had been shut down. He also championed a new sports complex on Two Notch Road in Columbia, which includes a football stadium, tennis courts, baseball fields, and fitness facilities. The liberal arts curriculum now offers degrees in 30 different disciplines. President Swinton also has led the efforts to preserve and restore many of the historic buildings on the campus, in part paid for with Federal funds from the HBCU Historic Preservation Program that we in this Congress have championed.

President Swinton will retire this summer after 23 years of service to the institution. I wish him well and thank him for his leadership.

Today, on the same land where Blacks once toiled in slavery, their descendants are now learning the tools they need to live up to Benedict College's motto: to be powers for good. Like so many HBCUs, Benedict offers a unique religious experience in which students from many different backgrounds share a common struggle for equality, and I am pleased to recognize them today.

Mr. Speaker, standing before almost entirely White crowds in North Carolina, Michigan, Virginia, and Ohio, candidate Donald Trump painted a bleak picture of African-American life in 2016, full of crime, high poverty, and failing schools. He went on to say, ``It is a disaster the way African Americans are living,'' and asked, ``What the hell do you have to lose?''

In just 3 short weeks, Mr. Speaker, President Trump has shown the world exactly what a disaster looks like. He has put a White supremacist in the White House as his chief political adviser. He has given us an Attorney General who spent the last 30-plus years working against civil and voting rights. He has appointed a shamefully ill- prepared Secretary of Education whose only qualification seems to be her ability to contribute millions to Republic candidates in what can only be described as the textbook definition of pay to play.

Candidate Trump promised to be the hero of working people, but President Trump is doing the exact opposite. His actions tell a lot more than his tweets. His Cabinet is full of millionaires, many with ethical challenges and conflicts of interest. He has already raised the cost of mortgages for many Americans. He is proposing that we abandon the overtime rule that would ensure bigger paychecks for working people. He is working to dismantle Wall Street reform and is proposing a border tax that would give corporations a huge tax break while costing working men and women more on groceries, clothes, and other goods.

The policies of the Trump administration are an extension of the policies that Republics in the House have pushed for years. To candidate Trump's question what do you have to lose, for starters, your voice at the ballot box. A free and fair election is the hallmark of democratic governance, yet the Trump administration and Republics in Congress continue to threaten this basic pillar of democracy. They have promulgated blatant falsehoods about voter fraud, sowing fear and distrust. They have worked and are working across the country to prevent people of color from voting. They are refusing to investigate Russian interference in our elections and are currently moving legislation through the House of Representatives to eliminate the only Federal agency tasked with helping Americans vote and protecting our voting machines from hacking.

As President Trump and his spokespeople continue to make demonstrably false claims about widespread voter fraud and cozying up to the country that attacked our democracy, House Republics just passed out of committee H.R. 634, legislation to eliminate the only Federal agency tasked with certifying the security of our voting machines, the Election Assistance Commission.

Forty-seven out of fifty States rely on the EAC's voting machine certification program in some capacity. A recent report by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology concluded, ``Voting machines are neither secure nor complex. In general, these stripped- down computers utilizing outdated operating systems possess virtually every conceivable vulnerability that a device can have.''

In my home State of South Carolina, we currently use voting machines that were rejected by the State of Ohio in 2007 for being ``buggy, unstable and exploitable.'' And even though machines are not supposed to be connected to the internet, they are well past their shelf life and, therefore, more likely to break down, crash, and produce errors. Replacing these outdated machines with updated ones will cost a significant amount of money, and the burden is on the States to do so.

Mr. Speaker, if House Republics are serious about election integrity, they ought to stop working to prevent people of color and start investing in voting infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to cosponsor H.R. 794, which will reauthorize the Election Assistance Commission until 2022, provide payments to the States to upgrade the security of voter registration databases, and require an assessment of each State's voting systems.

Foreign hackers targeted the voter registration databases in more than 20 States in 2016. Candidate Trump encouraged hackers to target his opponent. He won the election and continues to cozy up to Russia.

And now, House Republics are moving to eliminate the EAC, a key force in combating foreign cybersecurity attacks against our democracy.

``What do you have to lose?'' candidate Trump asked. Try free and fair elections, Mr. Speaker.

I urge my Republic colleagues to put country before party and stand up for American democracy. Stop trying to suppress minority voters. Support an independent commission to investigate Russian meddling in our election.

Mr. Speaker, HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, have been the topic of a great deal of discussions recently, and I rise, as part of the observance of Black History Month, to recognize and celebrate one of them, Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina.

Similar to the many Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the Nation, Allen University's contributions to my home State of South Carolina and the Nation are immeasurable. Founded to offer education and opportunity to formerly enslaved African Americans, HBCUs have been central institutions in African-American communities for generations.

In 1870, 5 years after the end of the Civil War, the clergy of the African Methodist Episcopal Church set out to create an institution to educate newly freed slaves and train clergy for the AME Church. The Church purchased land in Cokesbury, South Carolina, and named the new college Payne Institute in honor of AME Bishop Daniel Payne, a native of Charleston, South Carolina. Bishop Payne had become the first Black college president in the United States at Wilberforce University in 1863, which he had helped found.

In 1880, Bishop William Dickerson sought to relocate the college to Columbia and acquired land on which the campus sits today. The institution was renamed Allen University after Richard Allen, the founder and first bishop of the AME Church.

Higher education remained segregated in South Carolina until the early 1960s. The University of South Carolina, also in my district, only a mile away from Allen, for example, admitted its first African American in 1963, 2 years after I graduated college.

Throughout the Jim Crow era, Allen University offered degrees in law, education, and theology, and at one time also offered elementary and high school classes.

Several of its buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, forming the Allen University Historic District. Arnett Hall, the oldest building on campus, was constructed in 1891 by the students themselves. It was named after Benjamin W. Arnett, an early leader of the AME Church, who served on Allen University's Board of Trustees.

The Chappelle Administration Building, which houses the Chappelle Auditorium, was designed by John Anderson Lankford, known as the dean of Black architects, and completed in 1925. It was named after William David Chappelle, the great-grandfather of comedian Dave Chappelle, and a graduate of Allen University, who later served as its president. Chappelle Auditorium is one of five buildings in Columbia designated a National Historic Landmark.

This historic campus has been central to the Waverly neighborhood and the African-American community in Columbia. Black artists, such as Leontyne Price, Langston Hughes, and Brook Benton, all appeared at Chappelle Auditorium.

In 1947, the Reverend James Hinton, then-president of the NAACP of South Carolina, held a rally at Chappelle, which was attended by Reverend Joseph A. DeLaine, an Allen University alumnus. Inspired by the event, Reverend DeLaine organized families in Summerton, South Carolina, to petition their school district to provide buses for Black students who, at the time, were forced to make a daily walk of 9 miles to school.

This case, Briggs v. Elliott, was the first of the five cases that became Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. It is no exaggeration, Mr. Speaker, to say that Allen University was the birthplace of the movement that overturned ``separate but equal'' and brought an end to legal segregation in America. Allen University will remain central to the struggle for civil rights.

In the early 1960s, Allen University students led demonstrations at segregated lunch counters and participated in many of the marches in Columbia during that period. National leaders such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Roy Wilkins, and Ralph Abernathy visited Allen during these demonstrations, often staying on campus when they came to town.

Today Allen University is a liberal arts institution still operated by the AME Church. It has graduated many notable elected officials, including State Representative William Clyburn and his wife, Beverly Dozier Clyburn, who retired from the Aiken, South Carolina, City Council several years ago. Retired State Senator Kay Patterson is also a graduate. Two of Allen's alumni, former Senator Clementa Pinckney and Tywanza Sanders, were among the nine who were murdered during the attack at Emanuel AME Church in 2015.

Several of its historic buildings, like Arnett Hall and Chappelle Auditorium, have been restored recently with Federal funding from the HBCU Historic Preservation Program, which this body in its collective wisdom voted unanimously last year to reauthorize. I plan, along with my friend Representative Green and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to reintroduce that bill this year. I am hopeful that we will repeat the unanimity this year and that the Senate will support our efforts.

Allen University has made an indelible mark on our society over the past 147 years. I ask all of my colleagues to join me in honoring its great contributions to this great Nation.

Thank you very much for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join my colleagues and people throughout the United States to celebrate Black History Month. It may come as a surprise to some that Black History Month is also celebrated in Canada and the United Kingdom, although they do so in the United Kingdom in the month of October.

Thanks to the hard work and persistence of Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, known today as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the celebration of Black history was inaugurated in 1926. In response to Mr. Woodson's advocacy, it was to be for 1 week, the second week in February, in order to envelope the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln, February 12, and Frederick Douglass, February 14.

First proposed by students at Kent University in 1969 and 1970, the week was officially expanded to a month in 1976. Gerald Ford was President at the time. When the month was established, President Ford urged the country to ``honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans.'' There is a lot of talk about health care these days, and in no area has the contributions of African Americans been more neglected and dishonored as much as in the field of health care.

How many people are aware of the contributions of Charles Drew who unlocked the secrets that led to the ability to perform blood transfusions; or Daniel Hale Williams who performed the first successful open-heart surgery; or Samuel Kountz who performed the first successful kidney transplant not done on identical twins? Because of these and many other slights in many other fields, Mr. Speaker, I have not always celebrated this occasion with pleasure.

During those discussions back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I, and many others, felt that the appropriate action was not just to expand from 1 week to a month but to mandate the incorporation of African-Americans' contributions and achievements throughout the curricula of all of our schools year round.

But, with each passing day, I grow more and more appreciative and respective of a lesson taught in 1 Corinthians 11:13, which I share with you in Jim Clyburn's version. ``When I was a child, young and inexperienced, I spoke with the reasoning and understanding of a child, but as I grew and matured, I put those childish thoughts, expressions, and ways behind me.''

I have come to understand, Mr. Speaker, that Black History Month is not only about celebrating past achievements and contributions. It is also a time for reflection and introspection.

Aristotle once intoned: ``A life without contemplation is not worth living.''

I have spent a lot of introspective moments over the last several weeks. Over the last several days, I have reflected on the comments made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the annual meeting of the Medical Committee for Human Rights back in 1966, when he said: ``Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.''

That is what was on my mind when I addressed this House on the day that we passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. On that occasion, I referred to the Affordable Care Act as the civil rights act of the 21st century.

It may seem a bit odd to some to hear the Affordable Care Act referred to as a civil rights act, but that is exactly what it is. The Affordable Care Act outlawed discrimination against children with preexisting conditions, outlawed discrimination against people with disabilities, and outlawed discrimination against women just because they are women.

Mr. Speaker, I want to believe that we have grown and matured beyond where we were when our country allowed insurance companies to discriminate against women with breast cancer

and men with prostate cancer. I would like to believe, Mr. Speaker, that we have put behind us the childish practice of kicking children off of their family insurance policies as soon as they turn 21, even if they are still in school or have not yet found employment. Mr. Speaker, what could be more childish and immature than allowing insurance companies to deny benefits to the sick and disabled in order to gain big bonuses and payouts for executives?

These arguments are not new. In fact, they are reminiscent of an age- old debate.

Fifty years ago, during my years of student protest, there were those who urged us to slow down. You are pushing too hard, too fast, they would say. Some of those who wanted a slower approach claimed to be on our side, like those eight White ministers who implored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to slow down, arguing that Christianity took 2,000 years to accomplish all it has. Those ministers believed that the escalation of marches and demonstrations to secure civil rights was unwise and untimely.

In 1963, while sitting in the Birmingham city jail, Dr. King started penning a letter that, of course, he finished after leaving jail, but in that letter he dealt with the whole issue of time. In his letter, Dr. King said: ``Time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.''

He continued: ``More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful word and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.''

Dr. King continued: ``Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitably; it comes through the tireless efforts of men''--and, I might add, women--``willing to be coworkers with God, and without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that time is always ripe to do right.''

I believe these words ring true today, in our current situation. Our Nation has waited for nearly a century to find a way to bring all its citizens into the healthcare system. The time was ripe to do right for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Eckerd Findley, an outstanding South Carolinian, who is retiring from Piedmont Airlines this month after 40 years of service.

Mr. Findley was born on May 4, 1953 to the late Reverend Alex and Ms. Ethel Findley. He graduated from Columbia, South Carolina's Booker T. Washington High School in 1972.

After graduation, Mr. Findley went to work for Mount Vernon Mills, a textile company which was housed in the building that is now the South Carolina State Museum. It was at Mount Vernon Mills that he met his wife Ann. They were married in 1973 and in 1975 they were blessed with a son, Edward. Their daughter, Antonitte, was born in 1984. The Findleys currently have four grandchildren.

Mr. Findley's father, the Reverend Alex Findley, worked for Delta Airlines from 1944 until his retirement in 1986. Eckerd decided to follow in his father's footsteps and in 1976 he landed a position at Piedmont Airlines. He has been with the company ever since, helping it to grow into US Airways, which recently merged with American Airlines.

Eckerd was taught and--in turn--has taught his family Matthew 22:39, ``love thy neighbor as thyself,'' and that lesson shows in the way he works and lives. He is a member of Pleasant Springs AME Church and is a pillar of the community.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and the Members of this House join me in recognizing the outstanding service and example of citizenship that have been shown by this fine gentleman, Eckerd Findley. I wish him a long, productive and rewarding retirement.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to note the passing of a great American.

Golf pioneer Charlie Sifford died last night at the age of 92. Often called the ``Jackie Robinson of golf,'' Sifford wrote in his autobiography, ``Just Let Me Play,'' about his fateful meeting with the man who broke baseball's color barrier:

``He asked me if I was a quitter,'' Sifford wrote.

``I told him: `No.' ''

``He said: `If you're not a quitter, you're probably going to experience some things that will make you want to quit.' ''

Sifford experienced unspeakable acts of racial abuse, slurs, and threats as he became the first African American to play the PGA Tour.

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1922, Sifford worked as a caddie and dominated the all-Black United States Golfers Association, winning five straight national titles. He challenged the PGA's Whites- only rule, and, in 1961, they rescinded it. Sifford won the Greater Hartford Open in 1967 and the Los Angeles Open in 1969. He also won the 1975 Senior PGA Championship. In 2004, he became the first African American inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Last year, President Barack Obama awarded Sifford the Medal of Freedom, joining Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as the only golfers to receive our Nation's highest civilian honor.

Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers of all time, has often said he may have never taken up the game were it not for the courage, grace, and perseverance of Charlie Sifford.

Mr. Speaker, Charlie Sifford was not a quitter. He was a hero. He was my hero. May he rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, in one of his great books, Martin Luther King, Jr., asked the question: Where do we go from here--chaos or community?

Mr. Speaker, today, 50 years after Selma, that question is still in need of an answer.

One area in need of aggressive action is persistent poverty, and I want to thank President Obama for sending us a budget that equalizes the Tax Code and that, if substantially enacted, will move us closer to what Dr. King often referred to as the ``beloved community.''

Statistics show that there are nearly 500 counties and thousands of communities in the United States that are classified by the Census Bureau as ``persistent-poverty areas.'' They are certified because 20 percent of their populations have lived below the poverty line for the last 30 or more years. They are diverse communities, including Caucasian communities in States like West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee; Native American communities in States like South Dakota, Alaska, and Oklahoma; Latino communities in States like Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; and African American communities in States like South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. They are urban communities in States like New York and heartland communities in States like Missouri.

There are 139 of these counties that are represented in this House by Democrats, 331 by Republicans, and 18 are split between the two parties. Combating persistent poverty should matter to all of us regardless of party, geography, or race.

In early 2009, as we were putting together the Recovery Act, I proposed language to require at least 10 percent of funds in three rural development accounts to be directed to efforts in these persistent-poverty counties. This requirement was enacted into law. In light of the definition of ``persistent-poverty counties'' as having at least 20 percent poverty rates over 30 years, this provision became known as the ``10-20-30 initiative.''

In using the 10-20-30 formula, the Recovery Act funded a total of 4,655 projects in persistent-poverty counties, totaling nearly $1.7 billion. I saw firsthand the positive effects of these projects in my district. We were able to undertake projects and create jobs that would have otherwise languished. Among these investments were a $5.8 million grant and a $2 million loan to

construct 51 miles of water lines in the rural community of Brittons Neck in Marion County, South Carolina.

There are many other success stories. In Lowndes County, Mississippi, $17.5 million was spent to install a water line, elevator tank, and two wastewater pump stations, providing potable water to rural Mississippians and creating badly needed construction jobs.

In 2011, I joined with our former Republican colleague, Representative Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, to introduce an amendment to the continuing resolution that would have continued 10-20-30 for rural development and would have expanded it to 11 additional accounts throughout the Federal budget to enhance economic development, education, job training, health, justice, the environment, and much more.

I want to make one thing clear about the 10-20-30 approach. It does not add one dime to the deficit. It simply targets resources from funds already authorized or appropriated.

Over the past 30 years, the national economy has risen and fallen multiple times. During these economic downturns, we have been rightly focused on getting our economy, as a whole, on track. We have not given adequate attention to these communities that are suffering from chronic distress and Depression-era levels of joblessness.

Mr. Speaker, I would hope that, as we undertake this budget, we will find ways to work together to move our Nation closer to Dr. King's dream of a beloved community.

Thank you so much, Mr. Payne, for yielding me time. I appreciate your accolades, and I promise you that my long, distant memory is getting very good, but I assure you that your contributions to this great body are very much appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I opened up Black History Month with a speech at Cornerstone Baptist Church on Wayne Street in Columbia, South Carolina. They had an interesting topic for me to develop. It was all about remembering our past and preparing for the future.

Chairman Butterfield has talked a little bit about the past that many of us remember, but 50 years after Selma, we must turn to the question that Martin Luther King, Jr., asked in one of his great books: Where do we go from here, chaos or community?

Statistics show that there are nearly 500 counties and thousands of communities in the United States that are classified by the United States Census Bureau as persistent poverty areas. They are so defined because 20 percent of their populations have lived below the poverty level for the past 30 years or more.

They are diverse, including Caucasian communities in States like West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee; Native American communities in States like South Dakota, Alaska, and Oklahoma; Latino communities in States like Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; and African American communities in States like South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi. They are urban communities in States like New York and heartland communities in States like Missouri. 139 of these counties are represented in this body by Democrats; 331 of these counties are represented in this body by Republicans; and 18 of these counties are split between the two parties. Combating persistent poverty should matter to all of us, regardless of party, geography, or race.

In early 2009, when we were putting together the Recovery Act, I proposed language to require that at least 10 percent of funds in three rural development accounts be directed to efforts in these persistent- poverty counties. This requirement was enacted into law. In light of the definition of persistent-poverty counties as having at least 20 percent poverty rates over 30 years, the provision became known as the 10-20-30 initiative.

This initiative bore dividends as economic development projects proliferated in persistent poverty communities across the country. Using the 10-20-30 formula, the Recovery Act funded a total of 4,655 projects in persistent-poverty counties, totaling nearly $1.7 billion. I saw firsthand the positive effects of these projects in my district.

We were able to undertake projects to create jobs that would have otherwise languished. Among those investments was a $5.8 million grant and a $2 million loan to construct 51 miles of water lines in the little community of Brittons Neck in Marion County, South Carolina. There are many other success stories.

In Lowndes County, Mississippi, $17.5 million was spent to install a water line, elevated tank, and two wastewater pump stations, providing potable water to rural Mississippians and creating badly needed construction jobs.

The Wellborn Special Utility District in Brazos County, Texas, received a $538,000 loan to construct more than 9 miles of new water distribution lines and connect over 60 households to a new water system.

In 2011, I joined with our former Republican colleague, Representative Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri, to introduce an amendment to the continuing resolution that would have continued 10-20-30 for rural development and expanded it to 11 additional accounts throughout the Federal Government affecting economic development, education, job training, health, justice, the environment, and more.

I want to make one thing clear about the 10-20-30 approach. It does not--I repeat, it does not--add one dime to the deficit. It simply targets resources from funds already authorized or appropriated.

Over the past 30 years, the national economy has risen and fallen multiple times. During each economic downturn, while we have been rightly focused on getting the economy as a whole back on track, we have not given adequate attention to these communities that are suffering from chronic distress and Depression-era levels of joblessness.

As a result, they have suffered even in good economic times. The 10- 20-30 approach would provide a mechanism to address this deprivation in times of want and in times of plenty, in times of Federal investment and in times of fiscal austerity.

Last year, I wrote an essay on 10-20-30 which was published in the Harvard Journal on Legislation. I discussed the history of our Nation's efforts to address chronic poverty and more fully laid out the case for broadly implementing 10-20-30 in a bipartisan fashion.

Mr. Speaker, as we begin to put our 2016 budget together, I look forward to working with all Members in this body on both sides of the aisle irrespective of what State or county you may represent. I look forward to working together so that we can make a real productive legacy for Selma and we can move forward and answer Dr. King's question ``Chaos or community?'' with a resounding: We are building communities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a wonderful woman and South Carolinian who is turning 100 years old on February 7th. Elise Jones Martin has been a stalwart of her community in Columbia, South Carolina for decades, and is very deserving of this recognition she is receiving from people all across the State of South Carolina.

Ms. Martin was born in Hartsville, South Carolina and arrived in Columbia in the 1930s following cosmetology training in New Jersey. She later attended South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, SC where she received her teaching certification. She taught for many years at Booker T. Washington High School and was very active in her trade's professional organizations.

Ms. Martin became the first African American woman to own a business on Main Street in Columbia when she opened a wig shop called Accent Elise. She became a dedicated and trustworthy member of the community. She worked with the Columbia Housing Authority on its Hope VI program and served as a poll worker for over three decades. In 2008 she served as the poll manager to her polling location at the youthful age of 94. She has also served as a member of the Columbia Zoning board and a member of the America Beautiful Committee of the Midlands.

She believes that citizens must take part in the change they seek and has been a tireless worker through the City of Columbia. Ms. Martin has been extremely dedicated to Bethel A.M.E. Church, where she's been a member for more than 70 years and has held many leadership positions. Her deep and lasting commitment to her church and her community have made her a valuable asset. She has always been very approachable. Her wisdom, friendship and compassion are often sought and highly valued by her family and fellow citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that you and my colleagues join me in congratulating Ms. Elise Jones Martin on this tremendous milestone. It is very fitting that her valuable contributions and this celebration of 100 years of life are being recognized by her family and friends for all she has done to give back to those with whom she has shared a century of blessed experiences.