Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT. Mr. President, as we close out Black History Month this week, I wanted to recognize a few people and initiatives that we are really excited about.

Yesterday, I joined Congressman Mark Walker, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee in the House, to host our Second Annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities Fly In.

We hosted Presidents and Administrators from HBCUs throughout the country, including four from my home State of South Carolina--South Carolina State University, Claflin University, Allen University and Benedict College.

We were able to host some great panels on ensuring curricula are matched with the needs of the workforce, how to best encourage entrepreneurship among students, and what steps we are taking at the Federal level to help our HBCUs provide an invaluable education for students for generations to come.

Representatives from the HBCUs heard from Google, McDonalds, Starbucks, Bank of America the Morehouse College Entrepreneurship Center, John Deere, Wal-Mart, the Center for Entrepreneurship & Economic Development, and the Koch Foundation. I also want to thank my friends Senator Lankford and Congresswoman Terri Sewell for joining us on our member panel.

For decades, HBCUs provided Americans of color with educational opportunities they would not have otherwise had. For generations, they have given low-income students an education they could not otherwise afford.

We have stood by them with the restoration of year-round Pell Grants, a top legislative priority from last year's fly-in, which benefits more than one million students.

I joined a bipartisan group of members of Congress, including Representative Alma Adams, to ensure an increase in the Department of Defense's HBCU and PMI grant program, boosting funding for this important collaboration to $40M.

And earlier this month, we saw the Environmental Protection Agency renew its partnership with Bowie State University to provide professional experiences and advanced resources to Bowie State students.

We will continue to stand with our HBCUs, and help ensure they are providing the opportunities sought by so many people of color and low- income families from across the Nation.

I also want to talk about legislation my friend Senator Booker and I introduced today to help combat Sickle Cell Disease.

Our Sickle Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention and Treatment Act will do exactly what the title suggests . . . aid in fighting sickle cell through research, surveillance, prevention and treatment.

Currently, we don't really know exactly how many people have Sickle Cell Disease. There's no real surveillance and reporting in place at the Federal level, and only a handful of states have a reporting process.

To best battle Sickle Cell, we have to know the universe of what we're fighting against. So, our bill establishes the National Sickle Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment program to collect data on the demographics and prevalence of Sickle Cell as well as identify and evaluate strategies for prevention and treatment.

We're also reauthorizing the Sickle Cell Disease Treatment Demonstration Program (SDTDP) for four years, making some smart reforms and expanding support services for kids and young adults making the transition to adult care.

If you've ever met someone with Sickle Cell Disease, you know the pain they go through. You see how hard it is on their families to watch them suffer.

The Medical University of South Carolina has put so much effort into finding a cure, and over the past few years I've gotten to know some of the patients. Their perseverance is amazing.

We have taken some great steps forward, but we have to keep that momentum going. I want to thank Senator Booker again for joining me in this effort, and I look forward to our colleagues supporting the Sickle Cell Disease Research, Surveillance, Prevention and Treatment Act.

Mr. President, Black History Month allows us to not only study and learn from our past, but to see where we can go in the future. Our Nation has made amazing progress in the past 50 years.

Without a doubt, there are still challenges ahead of us, and by remembering the strength of folks like Dr. Martin Luther King, the Friendship Nine, Cleveland Sellers, and so many other civil rights heroes, I am heartened that despite those challenges, we will continue to make progress. ______

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