Congressman Cuellar details his work on higher education funding front

LAREDO, Texas - U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar says his push to get Hispanic Serving Institutions equal footing with Historically Black Colleges and Universities has pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars. Cuellar, a senior member of the House appropriations committee, gave an exclusive interview to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service about this push, along with news of the latest appropriations bill, which contains major wins for South Texas colleges and universities. “Higher Ed has always been very important. So, what I've been doing since I've been a member of the appropriations (committee, is) I’ve added literally hundreds of millions of dollars into developing Hispanic Serving Institutions, which serves UTRGV, South Texas College and so many universities and colleges in Texas and across the country,” Cuellar said. “So that is one thing I have focused on, (to) put money in there. But, on top of that, I went through the appropriations (process) and I did something that has not been done before - and I started this years ago - and that is making sure that every appropriation bill, if they do research, that they also include Hispanic Serving Institutions.” Cuellar cited examples such as the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Defense.  “I added language there to make sure that monies would go not only to Historically Black Colleges but also to Hispanic Serving Institutions. So that opened up the door for a lot of research dollars from agencies that might have not been there in the past.” Another thing Cuellar is proud of is getting the National Science Foundation to change its policies. “There was a program that was set up for Historically Black Colleges. So, when I tried to add the language, the director called me up and said how we can do this? I said, why can’t we have the same type of funding (that goes to) Historically Black Colleges for Hispanic Serving Institutions?  “And she basically told me, ‘No, we can't do that because Hispanics are not monolithic. You’ve got Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans and Cubans.’ And I said, it doesn't matter.  "So, they resisted for a while, but we finally got it done. And so now, at the National Science Foundation, there's a fund for Hispanic Serving Institutions. It took me a year or so to get it done, but I got it done.” Here is an audio version of the exclusive interview with Congressman Cuellar: Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.