WASHINGTON – Today, House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Congressman David Scott introduced H.R. 1436, a bill to make permanent and provide $100 million additional dollars in funding for student scholarships at the 19 African American 1890 Land-Grant Colleges and Universities.

Following the introduction of this legislation, Ranking Member David Scott issued the following statement:

“Bringing a diverse range of talented, young, creative minds into our agriculture industry is vital to our future success. For, if we do not do our part here in Congress to invest in these outstanding students, we risk exacerbating the already difficult challenge of an aging generation of producers, farmers, and agriculture business owners, which are critical to maintaining our food supply and our number one trading asset, which is agriculture,” said Ranking Member David Scott.

“As a graduate of an African American 1890 Land-Grant University, Florida A&M University, I know the great value this student scholarship program provides for our nation’s students. And, the added magnificence of this 1890 Colleges and Universities scholarship program is that our nation’s young people of every race, creed, and color attend these 1890s Land-Grant schools and some are recipients of this scholarship program. And, an additional magnificence of this legislation is that it was reported favorably by a vote of 45-3 in the House Agriculture Committee in the last congress, making this truly a historic, bipartisan student scholarship program. This bill will make sure that we have talented, educated, and gifted farmers, ranchers, and producers, of our food, clothing, and fiber for generations to come,” Ranking Member David Scott added.